I Melt With You
by iNemo
Summary: A year after the Great Thaw, Anna and Kristoff find out that Elsa still has some skeletons in the closet. As a result, the two of them set out on a covert mission to break down the Snow Queen's icy walls once and for all-but at what cost? Set shortly after Frozen Fever & a few years post-Brave. Eventually femslash, as seen from Kristanna's perspective. REPOST
1. Chapter 1

**I Melt With You**

 **A/N:** So, this is my first fanfiction (that means don't set your expections high for this one). There's already a lot of Frozen f/f fics out there, so I thought I'd try something a little different. This story mainly explores Anna and Kristoff's perspective in relation to what might as well be typical Elsa femslash. That being said, the main pairing in this story is Kristanna. The slash will be slow-developing, revealed gradually and, for a large portion of the story, only heavily implied. I'm posting it in crossover only because a few characters from Brave will eventually make an appearance. It'll be multi-chapter, so I'll do my best to update regularly. I doubt I'll get many views, but I wrote it, so I might as well post it, right? Please excuse any OOC-ness. R&R, constrictive criticism welcome, feel free to PM me, but no flames please 'cause I'm just a newb. Now read on —Nemo

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _Knock knock... Knock knock knock._

"Hey, Elsa, I—"

" _Skitt!_ " Elsa shrieked, yanking her hand out from under the covers and hastily shielding her reading material from Anna's view. Startled, she scrambled to cover herself the rest of the way with her newly ice-frosted blankets. " _Hva faen_ Anna?!"

The princess halted in the doorway, her mouth agape. The room was dark—but not dark enough, and there was no mistaking what Elsa had been doing. The few candles that were still lit had even allowed Anna to catch a glimpse of the cover of the book that she had been holding in her _left_ hand, because her _right_ hand had been...

 _Oh._

Anna flushed all the way up to her ears as the implication sunk in. She just stood frozen and gawked, too stunned to run.

"Are you serious right now?" Elsa hissed in response to her sister's incredulous stare. " _Hva i helvete_ are you doing?!"

"I was just..." Anna squeaked, finally finding her voice again. "I heard you in here, and..." she averted her eyes, mortified, and then finally just turned away altogether.

Elsa whimpered in embarrassment. "Please leave me alone," she groaned, shrinking so far under her rimy blankets that only her eyes peeked out over the top of the comforter.

"I'm, uh... I'm sorry," Anna stammered, backing out of the room, "I didn't know—"

"Get out, Anna!"

"Sorry! Sorry," Anna exclaimed, turning around and tripping over herself in the process, "Goodnight!" Finally, she pulled the door closed with a solid _thud_ and Elsa heard her jiggle the handle to be sure that it was fully shut.

Only once she was completely convinced she was alone did Elsa feel around under the blankets again for her book. As her hand grazed its snow-soaked binding, she assured herself that the cover was the most that Anna could've seen. Undoubtedly, its contents had been hidden in time. Elsa sighed in relief, convinced.

Her dignity was gone to the wind, but at least her secret was safe—for now.

* * *

"Kristoff!"

 _Knock knock knock._

"Kristoff, are you awake?"

 _Knock knock._

Anna repeatedly rapped on the barn door with her knuckles, calling her fiance's name in a loud whisper in hopes of waking him. It was much too late for her to be out, and she knew that if the guards caught her here, she'd be escorted right back into the castle. Elsa had given orders that Anna and Kristoff weren't allowed to see each other between midnight and daybreak.

Typically, it was an easy request for the sentries to uphold, considering the fact that Kristoff scarcely ever used his own quarters in the castle's upper left wing. Instead, he preferred to spend most nights out in the barn with his reindeer (and best friend), Sven. He had grown up far outside civilization, and was still adjusting to normalcy, even after the full year's time that he and Anna had been courting.

Most changes had been easy, but he still found it difficult to get used to sleeping in a real bed at night, as opposed to under the stars with the sounds of nature around him. But as he rolled over, groaning lowly and blinking his eyes open into consciousness, it wasn't hard to tell that those sounds were _not_ nature. Still, he recognized Anna's voice immediately, which made it okay. In an instant, he was on his feet, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and ruffling the hay out of his hair. He peered out the window at the moon overhead. It was well after midnight.

Elsa's curfew rule was to stay in place until Kristoff and Anna were married. Of course, that hadn't stopped them from breaking it on a few notable occasions, but those nights were normally on a schedule. They were very carefully planned out and executed to avoid getting caught, and hadn't all been successful. But the spontaneity was different. Good different. Kristoff put on a blank face in an effort not to look to eager as he opened the door, cutting Anna off mid-knock.

The princess seemed to stall for only a second; her eyes locked on Kristoff's shirtless chest, her fist still raised in preparation for another attempt to wake him.

Kristoff smiled in a way that he hoped looked more confident than he felt. "Well, hello there."

But Anna regained her composure quickly, pushing her way inside the barn and then kicking the door shut again with her foot. No apology for waking him; that was fine. He noticed the sharp glint of light in her eyes that was only ever there when she was passionate about something, and his heart was already racing. Indeed, spontaneity could be a _very_ good thing.

"Oh my gosh, Kristoff, I am so—"

"Me too," Kristoff cut her off, moving in to embrace her around the waist, "It's okay, no one'll know—"

"No!" Anna exclaimed, batting his arms away.

Kristoff shoulders slumped, and he looked more confused than upset. "No?"

"No! Just..." Anna huffed in exasperation.

Kristoff finally noticed through his sleepy haze that she was blushing. And as his brain caught up with the rest of his anatomy, he got the feeling that most likely _wasn't_ because of him.

Sure enough, Anna confirmed his suspicions. "Something just happened, and I had to come talk to you, 'cause I'm kind of freaking out, and I had to tell someone, and I can't stop thinking about it, so I can't sleep, and I know now _you_ aren't sleeping either, but I didn't know what else to do!"

Kristoff gave out a disappointed grunt of acknowledgement. From somewhere back in the far corner of the barn, Sven did the same. They were used to Anna's antics, and this was nothing new. "Okay," Kristoff finally drawled, rolling his eyes as he sat back on some hay bales. "What happened then?"

"I, um, was in my room, and Elsa was, uh..." Anna struggled for words, trying to figure the least obscene way to relay the instance. In the end, she settled for mildly vulgar; this was only Kristoff, after all. "Well, I heard noises coming from Elsa's room, and I went to check on her because I was worried..."

Judging by Anna's expression, Kristoff could already tell where she was headed. "She was with a man, wasn't she? And you walked in?"

"No, worse. She was with _herself,_ and I walked in," Anna corrected, horrified, and then peeked over at him, waiting for a reaction.

Kristoff just stared back blankly. "Uh, what?"

"Well, you know..." Anna looked away began to fidget. "She was in her bed, undressed, and she was _doing stuff,_ y'know? By herself. Um, _to_ herself, I mean. Like..."

Finally, Kristoff's eyes widened in realization. Much to his discomfort, now that the unwarranted thought had entered his mind, he couldn't make it leave again. "I didn't even know girls could do that sort of thing," he muttered under his breath, more to himself than to Anna.

"Well, of course we _can_... But we don't," Anna mumbled out. "I mean, we shouldn't. Everyone shouldn't, but women especially shouldn't; it's just..."

"Wait," Kristoff interrupted her ramble, "Why not?"

Anna stopped short. "You're kidding, right?"

"Uh, no?" said Kristoff, but it came out sounding more like a question, and he couldn't quite choke back a chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all. Anna's cheeks were still stained that adorable shade of pink that matched her nightgown and made her freckles stand out, and he loved how she pretended to be such a prude about such things. Still, this was her own sister they were talking about, so he could certainly appreciate the disgrace of it all.

"Kristoff, it's so unseemly," Anna insisted, set on convincing him of such.

"But why?" Kristoff looked genuinely puzzled. "It's not like she was being perverse or anything, babe. She was in her bedroom alone. In the middle of the night. So, what's the problem?"

"The act itself is perverse!" Anna defended. "And not only that—she had a book when I walked in, and I'm _pretty_ sure that whatever she was reading wasn't exactly family-friendly."

"So?" Kristoff prompted in disregard. Then he grinned slyly. "Wait, what was she reading?"

"Kristoff!" Anna giggled and whacked his bare shoulder, fully aware now that he was just playing around. Even through the minor disagreement of morality, the princess already felt better after confessing the whole ordeal to him. At least now she didn't have to face the humiliation alone. "I doubt it was anything too bad. It's probably just one of those sappy romance novels she likes to read. She hid it as soon as I came in."

"Seriously, though, who even _knows_ what Elsa's into?" Kristoff jibed with a chuckle, earning himself another playful swat from his fiance. As much as he was making light of the situation for Anna's sake, it wasn't easy to hide his astonishment. Truthfully, he had never actually thought of his future sister-in-law as a carnal being at all. In fact, in his opinion, Elsa had previously seemed entirely nonsexual. He really couldn't blame Anna for feeling the need to come tell somebody about it.

"You're a pig," Anna laughed, shaking her head at him. "You're even more of a pig than Elsa."

"Oh, please. Elsa's not a pig; she's an unmarried woman who's too busy ruling a kingdom to have time for courting. She's probably lonely," Kristoff argued. With a yawn, he got to his feet and then made his way across the barn to lie back down on the hay next to Sven. Normally, he would've asked Anna to join him, but after their apparent misunderstanding when he'd first let her in, and their current topic of conversation, he questioned the propriety of it all and ultimately decided against it.

"I know she's lonely. She's told me she is," Anna admitted quietly, unsure if this was his way of wordlessly dismissing her.

"Well there you go, then," Kristoff shrugged, curling up to Sven and making himself comfortable. "Don't go walking into her room late at night. How much did you see?"

"Well, not a lot. She covered up right when I opened the door," said Anna, blushing again. "But, um, she yelled at me in Norwegian, though. I think she was cursing at me."

Kristoff snorted with laughter, and Anna gave him a look. He eventually managed to stifle his chuckles. "Well, let's just hope that she meets somebody soon," he speculated, "She's, what, almost twenty-three now? Well, no wonder. She's probably desperate."

"I didn't really think of it that way," Anna admitted quietly. Before the shock had worn off, she'd found the whole thing tasteless and crude—but it wasn't that, she realized. Her sister had just been trying to find a little relief by herself. Anna had caught her off guard, barging in unannounced like that, and it probably wasn't nearly as bad as it had looked. And besides, Anna was only nineteen, and she had Kristoff, and she admittedly _still_ had impure thoughts once in a blue moon. "I guess I just never thought, y'know, that _Elsa,_ of all people..."

"Must've been a pretty intense romance novel," Kristoff joked, rolling over onto his back and folding his arms up behind his head. "You ever read any of that stuff?"

"Not a lot. When I _do_ read I actually prefer mysteries..." Anna trailed off when she noticed his smirk. She gasped when she realized what he was actually implying. "Kristoff! I'd never!"

Kristoff chuckled lazily and rubbed his eyes. "Relax, babe. I'm just messing with you."

Finally, Anna got tired of lingering by the doors. With a shrug, she decidedly flopped down on the hay next to him; no invitation necessary. The rough straw felt scratchy on her back through the thin silk of her nightgown, but she burrowed in anyways to get comfortable. Smiling to himself, Kristoff wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her into a warm embrace, disregarding Sven's indignant snort. "Quiet, Sven."

 _"But I was here first,"_ Kristoff replied in his Sven-voice, making Anna giggle.

"Aw, Sven," the princess cooed humorously, reaching back to stroke the soft spot between his antlers. "You know we love you."

The reindeer swished his tail in appreciation, and Kristoff wondered how he ever could've gotten so lucky. "And I love you, Anna."

Anna hummed in contentment, never mind the fact that she wasn't entirely sure if Kristoff or Sven had spoken. As she laid comfortably bundled between them, she already knew it was meant from them both. And for several minutes after that, they just rested together in silence, listening to the sound of the crickets chirping outside and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees.

* * *

Anna couldn't sleep. Luckily for her, Kristoff couldn't either, but Sven had already crawled away to the far corner of the barn and dozed off. It was the perfect opportunity. "So, um..." the princess broke the silence, tracing her fingertip in a little circle around Kristoff's collarbone and let her gaze flicker up to meet his, "Have you ever..?"

"Hmm?" Kristoff tried to look blank, but couldn't quite hide the smile that tugged at his lips as he recalled upon their previous topic of conversation. When Anna tilted her head at him accusingly, he receded. "Anna, come on. All men do it, okay?"

"Ew!" Anna scoffed at him, feigning repulsion, but it was overcome by the abundance of timid chuckles that she failed to suppress. "Jeez, Kristoff; have you no self-respect?"

"Oh, no, I've got plenty. Maybe too much, actually, if y'know what I mean," said Kristoff, grinning.

"But..." Anna was intrigued. "But you like it, right? I mean, it's, um, _good_?"

"Sure. Yeah, babe; it's good," said Kristoff with a sheepish smile. "Not as good as being with you, of course, but y'know..."

Anna didn't know; not really, but she nodded anyway. "Okay. Well..." she hesitated, "I'll admit that I've thought about _things_ before. Some nights, after we're together, or the times when we've gotten caught. And I've never actually done anything, but sometimes I get frustrated..."

"Mmm, me too," Kristoff hummed in agreement, his voice making that low buzzy noise from deep his chest that served as a factor in some of Anna's unspoken dreams. "Don't worry. Not too much longer to wait, right? Just 'til our wedding night."

"Sometimes I wish we didn't," Anna blurted. "Um, have to wait, I mean."

Kristoff blushed. "Me too, babe. But, I mean, it's just... It's not right."

"Says who?" asked Anna with a cheeky smile, getting braver.

"Well, says the law, I guess."

"You mean says _my sister_?" Anna whispered, placing her open hand on his bare chest, feeling his heartbeat underneath. "Because judging by what happened tonight, Elsa's got a few little secrets of her own, don't you think?"

"I just think that _that's_ kind of different than—"

"We can break the rules too, right?" Anna interrupted, skimming her fingertips downwards, "Sometimes. Every once in a while."

Kristoff groaned softly; a noise which Anna instinctively echoed. His conscience was screaming at him with the voice morality, but it was quickly drowned out by the ferocity of arousal. He couldn't refuse his own princess' seduction. "Sometimes, we can," he whispered in agreement, leaning into her touch, as if she had actually needed any extra encouragement.

So Anna got bolder, and her wandering hand ultimately ventured beneath the waistband of his trousers. Shyly, she met his gaze, and her pulse jumped in alignment with the twitching hardness that was rising to meet her palm. None of this had been in her intention, but just as the thought occurred, he looked at her, his dark eyes boring into hers with and unconcealed longing. Anna was naive, but she wasn't stupid. She was already here, and things had already started, and Kristoff was obviously willing, and to try to stop at this point seemed fruitless, so...

 _To hell with it all._

"This time, we can," Anna declared, sitting up to withdraw her hand, and then swinging a thigh over to straddle his lap, "Just this once."

Kristoff gasped as his hands wordlessly came to rest on her waist in agreement, and she lowered mouth to his to capture his lips in a heated kiss.

For the two of them, _just this once_ seemed to happen an awful lot.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Your Majesty!"

Queen Elsa of Arendelle staggered to a stop in the hallway, turning to acknowledge her most loyal maidservant as she approached her. "What is it, Gerda?" she inquired, peering over the top of the towering stack of books and notes in her arms. She bit back a groan when she saw the other woman's expression; it was obvious what was coming next.

"Would you like me to fetch somebody to help-"

"No, thank you," Elsa replied curtly, already having refused the assistance of three other servants whom had offered. It was quickly shaping up to be one of those stubborn days. "Did you need something? I was just on my way to the council chamber. I'm running a bit behind this morning, I'm afraid."

"Yes, Your Majesty; I didn't mean to delay you," Gerda dipped into a gracious curtsey, "My humblest apologies." According to the ticking clock at the end of the corridor, it was only ten-to-nine, which meant Elsa just wasn't running as early as she usually did, but Gerda knew better than to argue. "I just thought I might inform you of your sister's whereabouts this morning, but if you haven't the time..."

That certainly got Elsa's attention. "Oh?" she inquired politely. Gerda seemed to think she was doing her a favor by letting her know, but even just hearing her sister's name right now made the young queen's stomach curl. Neither Anna nor Kristoff had been at breakfast. It wasn't uncommon for them to oversleep their first meal, but judging by what had happened the night before, Elsa could be sure: today, their absence was intentional.

"Yes, one of our stable boys just discovered her asleep in the barn with her consort."

 _Oh._ Elsa's expression changed. So maybe it hadn't been _quite_ as intentional as she'd thought. Maybe, by some impossible stroke of luck, the horror of the previous night hadn't even actually occurred. Maybe the whole thing had been a nightmare somehow conjured up by the fear of her own subconscious being exposed, or, maybe the wine that she'd enjoyed with dinner last night had been stronger than she'd realized, and she'd been hallucinating, or...

"It seems that she snuck out again, during the midnight changing of the guards."

...Or, maybe Anna had just run off so that she could tell Kristoff what had happened.

 _Damn._

"Oh. I see," Elsa sighed, cringing inwardly. She wasn't a pessimist, but she _was_ realistic, and this was the disfortune of her reality. "Well, thank you, Gerda. Please see that the equerries keep this information closely guarded. The last thing we need is some sort of crown scandal," said Elsa. Even as she spoke, the irony of her own words bit back at her, and she steeled herself. _Conceal, don't feel._

"Yes, Your Majesty." Gerda lowered her head to her once more in a sign of respect, and then hurried off down the hallway.

As Elsa hefted the stack of books in her arms and continued ahead to the council meeting, she couldn't help but wonder: how could she possibly rule a kingdom when she couldn't even rein in her own sister?

Perhaps some questions weren't meant to be answered.

* * *

A short while later found the Queen standing at the head of the table in the council chamber, speaking intently to all of those whom were in attendance. These hour-long gatherings were rare, so Elsa intended making the most of the little time that she was allotted. Only once per week, she would meet with her council and advisors alike to discuss issues or concerns that had recently arisen within the kingdom of Arendelle. Almost two dozen members of varying levels of royal authority were present today-and almost two dozen members seemed to have cases to bring to their Queen's attention. Their purpose was, supposedly, to offer her guidance to take action (or attempt to fill her head with their own political agenda), and Elsa felt overwhelmed. These gatherings usually only included a few of her closest council members, but today, even many of the less active affiliates were present.

The only member who wasn't in attendance, it seemed, was Anna. Naturally, as Princess of the realm, she was expected at every meeting. But due to her lack of punctuality, or her disregard for her royal status, or some combination of the two, she only ever attended about half of all of the scheduled gatherings. For once, Elsa was glad. She had no desire to hurry along a chance to see her sister again. And besides, Anna never offered any real advice to the council. Instead, she served to assuage the heaviness of the whole affair; to contradict some of the Queen's own royal intensity, so to speak.

Needless to say, the convocation would've appreciated her presence today. It hadn't taken them long to figure out that Elsa seemed to be even more wound up than usual this morning, and negotiation with her had seemed unusually brusque. It wasn't at all like her. Kai, the royal handler and one of Elsa's own servants, had already mentally noted to catch her once the meeting had adjourned. By now, he knew Elsa had a tendency to push herself beyond her means if at all allowed. Surely it wouldn't hurt to at least ask what was troubling her.

"...And it seems best that we send our spymaster in alone, to gather information within the confines of the capital city without arousing suspicion," Elsa continued, turning her attention to her intelligence advisor, "Håkon, what say you?"

Jonfred Håkon made brief eye contact with the rest of the council before looking up to address the Queen, "With all due respect, Your Majesty, what proof do we have that The Southern Isles are planning an attack?" he prompted, "The King himself has never displayed any consensus with his youngest son's wicked schemes. Frankly, it seems an overreaction to jump to the conclusion that there's any imminent threat."

"Imminent or not, we all saw those ships on the horizon last week," Elsa replied firmly, "As they've been restricted from crossing our border, I say we take no chances. Oliversen should've set the fleet in motion the moment they sailed into our waters, but at least we chased them off before they could make an attempt to approach our docks."

"If I may interrupt, Your Majesty," Oliversen, Arendelle's Chief Naval Officer, cut in, "Those ships were no armada. It's quite possible that they were nothing more than a few harmless barges that had been blown off course, which was why we didn't waste any of our resources trying capture them."

"I've met their youngest Prince. We have a bit of a history, if you recall," said Elsa with an unconcealed tinge of sarcasm, "And if he is planning an attack, he wouldn't send in a flagrant naval squadron that we could watch roll right in. He's a bit cleverer than that, unfortunately."

Clever enough, at least, to have gotten in Elsa's head.

It had been exactly one week since she had received a letter in the post stamped with The Southern Isles' official seal; only four words scrawled across the unfolded page in Prince Hans' flared handwriting: _We know your secret._ Elsa had immediately ripped the message to shreds and burned it in the castle lounge's fireplace, but the words were forever burned into her mind. She had every right to feel threatened. But the council didn't know. They couldn't. And here they were, questioning their Queen's sanity, and questioning their own sanity for the very sake that they'd ever question their Queen. Surely it wasn't without rhyme or reason; that's what they told themselves. Queen Elsa knew best. She had to, for the sake of the realm; for the sake of themselves.

"I maintain the contention that the ships we saw were only their distraction. I don't know if The Southern Isles is conspiring against us-no one here does-but if they are, I see no reason to take the risk," Elsa paused to let the assertion sink in, "Do any of you disagree?"

The council around the table rippled with low murmurs of _'No, Your Majesty.'_

Elsa nodded, satisfied. "Very well, then. Håkon, you're to set out immediately. Once you've arrived at port, wait for my correspondence; I'll keep in touch." With an air of finality, she sat back down before them. "Now, on to the next order of business..."

* * *

The conference dragged on, and Queen Elsa sifted through the stack of parchment laid out before her in an effort to determine which issues took priority. Time was wasting, but before she could make any more use of it, she was surprised to hear the doors creak open halfway through the hour. For the country's safety, these meetings were to be kept strictly confidential. Members had to be approved before they were allowed entrance. In addition, armed men stood guard at every exit, and the doors were to be locked and bolted until ten o'clock on the dot. Only one circumstance other than emergency was assumed as an exception, and it was, regrettably, a common one.

As the council members turned silently to face their interrupter at the door, Elsa bit her tongue. Still somehow, she managed to keep her expression completely blank, offering her sister a small nod of welcome. "Hello, Anna. How nice of you to join us..." Elsa checked the time, "Thirty-eight minutes late."

Anna blenched as she entered the room, and Kristoff slipped in through the doors behind her. As Arendelle's future Prince Consort, he was welcome at these gatherings, but he had only ever attended a few. He was hardly more useful than Anna when it came to the Crown advising and negotiation that took place, and this time, their attendance had been Anna's idea. She had hoped that the two of them making an appearance might ease some of the ire that her sister surely had in store for them this morning.

Judging by the way that Elsa's jaw had set and her cheeks reddened with fuming anger (and embarrassment) when she looked at her, Anna could tell that her idea hadn't worked. Not even a little. In fact, Anna was wrestling with the idea of just turning and bolting right back out through the doors from which she'd come. The room felt colder suddenly, and Elsa's notes on the table were getting icy around the edges.

For once, Elsa would've preferred that Anna just miss the meeting altogether. She was still afraid to look her in the eyes. But much to Anna's chagrin, her sister's procured knowledge of the _Kristoff situation_ served as a sort of blackmail against her under their current circumstances. Still, Elsa decided that she wouldn't berate her now-not in front of the council, at least. "Please, take a seat," she said, gesturing to the two empty chairs to her right, "We were just about to get into discussion about the Royal Treasury." As Anna and Kristoff quietly did just that, Elsa looked up to Ranstein Wolff, Arendelle's Chief Bookkeeper. "Wolff, I was to understand you had some concerns about some of our most recent expenses?"

"Yes, but nothing of immediate disquiet," Wolff replied. He leaned back in his chair and thoughtfully stroked his graying beard, "It seems that we've miscalculated, is all. In the past month, we've tremendously exceeded our budget for the education system."

"By my edict, if you recall," Elsa cut in authoritatively, fixing him with an icy stare, "Continue."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Wolff stammered, a bit shaken. "I just thought that we'd go over it again; I have a solution to propose, to compensate for our losses."

Anna, despite her lack of observational skills, had already picked up on the way that Elsa seemed to bristle at the particular matter at hand. This wasn't the first time this had come up. She wasn't sure why, but lately, every time Arendelle's education system was mentioned, her sister got unusually defensive. The princess contemplated warning Wolff to stray to a different topic, before Elsa ended up impaling him with the keen end of an icicle, or at the very least, resorted to lobbing a couple of snowballs his way. The thought made Anna smile.

Elsa took a calming breath, and then busied herself by rifling through her stack of parchment again. "Actually, I had some notes written up on that," she said, "But in my haste this morning, it seems that I've mistakenly left them upstairs. Anna, would you mind retrieving them for me, please?"

Anna snapped to attention. "Yes! I'll go get them," the princess announced, scrambled awkwardly to her feet, trying to project her voice outwards to seem more confident than she felt. As usual, it came out sounding forced. She briefly met Elsa's eyes in sheepish apology, but Elsa wasn't having any of it, and returned her gaze with impatience.

" _Go,_ Anna!"

"Oh, right! You meant _now._ Okay, well I'll be back, um, presently," said Anna in acknowledgement of her dismissal, rolling her eyes at herself as she made her way to the door. Somehow she could never quite make herself measure up to her sister's natural regality.

Elsa sighed. "Kristoff, go with her, please," she ordered lightly, establishing that he also hadn't escaped her wrath. It was his barn Anna had been found in; he deserved his fair share of the discipline. With a timid nod and the bearing of a schoolboy that had just been scolded, Kristoff silently rose from his chair and followed his fiance out of the room. "Now," Elsa began again, straightening up to once again address her council, "Where were we?"

* * *

"You think there even really is any notes in here?" asked Anna, absently flipping through a stack of parchment that she had pulled out of a filing cabinet in Elsa's study. She and Kristoff had already been searching for Elsa's alleged notes for a good ten minutes so far, but had continuously come up empty. They had found records of treasurial expenses, speculative lines on military operations, and even a few old to-do lists written in a broken combination of English and Norwegian-but no notes that pertained to Arendelle's education system. Not a single one.

"Hmm?" Kristoff glanced her way as he returned yet another heap of useless notes back to their place in the cabinet.

"Maybe she just sent us up here to get rid of us," suggested Anna, sounding guilty, "See? I told you we shouldn't have gone to that meeting."

"What-but I..?!" Kristoff spluttered incredulously, "Me?! You're the one that-"

"Oh, Honey, don't argue," Anna waved her hand at him dismissively, "It's fine. I'll talk to Elsa later; we'll work it out. Now, where are those dang notes..?"

"There's no notes in here," Kristoff mumbled out, giving up any further attempts to defend himself. Today was a day that Anna refused to be reckoned with.

"You don't think so?"

"Well, we've already searched through everything she's written down in the past three months; there's nothing here," said Kristoff, shrugging, "But at least we can say we tried."

"The only other place she ever keeps notes is in her room," said Anna, "How about you go check?"

"Oh. Uh, okay, I guess," Kristoff agreed reluctantly, clearly less than thrilled to be sent on another wild goose chase.

"They'd be in her top dresser drawer. I'm just going to finish searching this last box and I'll be right there."

Kristoff nodded in understanding, and then sighed as he made his way out of the study and into the hallway. Half a flight of stairs and two corridors later, he was standing at the entrance to Elsa's royal bedchambers. The closed doors stared back at him menacingly, and he double checked to be sure there weren't any _KEEP OUT_ signs to be wary of. He reminded himself he wasn't trespassing-he had been given Anna's permission-but he still felt awkward as he turned the door handle and slipped quietly inside the room.

Even though they were practically family at this point, Kristoff couldn't deny the fact that it still felt intimidating to be inside the Queen's royal bedchambers. Elsa's innermost living quarters were always so _clean,_ he noticed. Why couldn't Anna's floor be all picked up like that? Kristoff was almost afraid to walk on it. Like he'd somehow leave footprints as evidence of his uninvited presence, or like icicle booby traps would suddenly materialize out of the walls with another Marshmallow snow monster clone standing vigil, or...

 _Notes._

The sound of a group of teenaged handmaidens gossiping down the hallway brought him back to reality.

Trying not to look any further than he was expected to, Kristoff hurried across the too-clean room, right to the too-tidy dresser that stood beside the too-perfectly-made bed. There were three vertically-stacked drawers there, and Kristoff didn't waste any time. He pulled open the top one as Anna had instructed, peering inside.

But something seemed... _Off._

This didn't look like paperwork at all. There were papers, sure: little scraps of parchment with snippets of Elsa's swirled handwriting scrawled across them; song lyrics, maybe, or poetry. Kristoff even spotted a few doodles of hearts and snowflakes. In the bottom of the (admittedly messy) drawer was a cluttered array of hair clips, perfume and makeup, jewelry, some loose change, an old timepiece, a miniature portrait that had been commissioned of the late King and Queen, and...

These were clearly Elsa's own personal possessions, not just some council memorandums Kristoff had been asked to collect. Admittedly, he was at a loss for why Anna would send him here in the first place. She knew full well that Elsa's claimed _notes_ didn't actually exist-right? Kristoff took a small step back, deciding to just let his fiance search through her sister's dresser if she so chose. If he were caught here, he felt that even just his presence in the royal bedchambers could be enough to incriminate him.

Right before he could reach in to shut the open drawer, one item in particular caught his eye: a single leather-bound book, halfway buried underneath the haphazard jumble of feminine belongings. Normally, he wouldn't have distinguished such a thing-but not ten feet away, there was a shelf packed full of biographies and anthologies and novels of all genres that Elsa had collected from the library and hadn't returned. And yet, this book was _clearly_ hidden on purpose. Finally, it dawned on him that his fiance had a real reason for sending him here.

 _Cheeky, Anna._ Kristoff stifled a chuckle as a knowing smile spread across his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Kristoff lingered by the Queen's bedside, wrestling with his own conscience. Anna had only sent him here in jest— _supposedly_ to find some lost council notes—but he had detected his fiance's humorous intentions just a moment too late. At this point, he already should've walked away; laughed it off, pretended not to have seen anything, maybe avoided looking Elsa in the eyes for a while, but even then... _would a quick peek really hurt?_

So just like that, his mind was made up. Kristoff wasn't difficult to convince. With a sly chuckle, he wasted no time reaching in and pulling the leather-bound book from the table drawer beside the bed. At a glance, its title seemed fairly innocent, so he flipped through a few pages, already sensing that it was just a pretense to hide its more profane content. Then he skimmed through a passage, and sure enough—a few words in—his suspicions were flagrantly confirmed:

 _"...each thrust of his hips sent frissons of pleasure bolting, starting deep within him; ending in her. He could feel her tightening around him throughout, and..."_

Kristoff read on, absorbing the printed words on the page with a sort of hungry ferocity. Soon enough, his mind was spinning, his breathing shallowing, his heart racing; pumping blood through his veins, blurring his vision, reddening his face and most definitely _not_ rousing a certain _lower part of him_ (because this was _Elsa's_ book, and if Anna was ever somehow made aware of the erroneous association, she would quite possibly bid to have that certain _lower part of him removed,_ to ensure that it would never operate in lust for her sister).

Needless to say, it was a very real concern.

Wincing at the thought, Kristoff decided to end this before it went any further. He had already read one full page and half of another, and there was no reason for it—even _he_ couldn't deny that he had absolutely no rationale for the blatant invasion of Elsa's privacy beyond his own boyish inquisitiveness. Submitting to the guilt, he lowered the book back down to the open dresser drawer to return it, but as he tilted it sideways to fit it in, the folios undid themselves. A small collection of papers that had been unknowingly tucked inside of it fell out and drifted to the floor. The disorganized pile came to rest as his feet, and he stopped short.

Those papers did _not_ belong in that book; of that much he was certain. The curiosity once again reared its ugly head.

They were handwritten notes, Kristoff realized when he crouched down to pick them up—about a dozen of them. Also, they hadn't been composed by Elsa herself. Their inky scribblings didn't quite match the swirled script on the other pieces of parchment in the drawer. But these weren't council notes; these notes had been hidden, purposively so. Why had they been hidden? Intrigued, shameless, Kristoff casted an eye over the one on top of the stack.

It was a poem.

A _familiar_ poem.

Kristoff didn't know when or where, but he had certainly read this before. In his astonishment, he couldn't quite recall the author's name—but the passionate verses themselves weren't at all what had piqued his interest. What _had_ caught his eye was the note at the top: _Dedicated to my secret beloved._ At the bottom of the page, the letter was signed with only a single letter _D,_ written in calligraphy.

There was no other indication of the message's sender, but it was indisputable that the Queen herself was its receiver. Kristoff was floored. He'd had no idea Elsa was romantically involved with anyone. Already compelled to learn more, he set the first letter aside and moved on to the second with renewed interest. It took no more than a moment's glance to prove that this one was, indeed, akin to the first—and much more than another simple poem.

 _My dearest Elsa,_  
 _I see you've found my note. I don't want to scare you off—we must keep this discreet for reasons I'm sure you're aware of (if you're so inclined; I'd like to hope you are). Thus, I'll not reveal my identity for my own safety until we've established a covenant. I hope you'll understand. You have so enchanted me that the risk is naught in comparison to the chance of one day being yours, and I have more to say if you'll agree to assume my attempts at pursuit. Therefore, I'll be awaiting your reply in earnest. For another letter from me, raise the flag from the southernmost castle rampart at noon tomorrow, and then check behind the smallest portrait in the Great Hall by nightfall. I'll dare to promise you'll not be disappointed —D_

Kristoff perused the sentences on the page. Then he scanned them again, more slowly. And again after that. After half a dozen reads, he could still hardly fathom the letter's content.

 _The flag._

Elsa had risen it. It had been flown, irrefutably, at noon every single week for the past several months. Kristoff had noticed it on more than one occasion; Arendelle's flag being risen from the wrong rampart. The variance had caught both his and Sven's attention, struck them as odd, but—like the rest of the town—they hadn't questioned it. Now that the question had presented itself, Kristoff's answer was right in front of him:

Elsa had consented.

But to whom?

Kristoff could think of countless men with access to the Great Hall whose first initial was _D,_ and there were no other clues.

With a sigh of contrition for already taking this so far, he flipped a few notes ahead and skimmed through another letter, searching. He just had to know _who_. That was all, and he promised himself that then he would stop reading and never snoop again.

 _My Dearest,_  
 _I cannot feel for you, so I'll convey what I must by way of this simple note. I long for you, Elsa, wholly, entirely. I want to show you the affection that you so deserve. I want a sign of validation, a sincere response, but your reluctance is unwavering. For how long must we continue this unbalanced affair? You haunt my dreams and my thoughts. You assent to me, and yet you elude me. My patience is strong, but my affection is stronger. And so, as I wait, I ask you—do you ever wish for something more? —D_

Kristoff continued to read, but something was nagging at him in very the back of his mind that he could no longer ignore: why all the secrecy? Could the note's sender really have been such a terrible suitor for the Queen? Even the lowest of citizens weren't prohibited from such an endeavor—Kristoff knew that firsthand, having gotten lucky enough to win the heart of the Princess. There must've been some other explanation; something even more profoundly hidden. Too deep into this to turn back now, he was determined to find it.

 _...never felt such before..._  
 _...to let us be who we are..._  
 _...see my fate when I see you..._

Kristoff flipped quickly through the notes, only catching a few words of each one, hunting for an explanation.

 _...how they say that women cannot be..._  
 _...but my heart beats for you..._  
 _...no man could ever love you as I..._

And as he arrived at the very bottom of the stack, Kristoff found only one note with distinctly different handwriting: Elsa's handwriting. There were several little segments there, presumably practice drafts of notes intended to be revised and eventually sent. Most of them were in Norwegian, but there were a few lines in English that had been written and then scribbled out with ink. Desperate, Kristoff scrutinized the page and found only one still-legible note in the lower left corner:

 _D,_  
 _Thank you for seeing me. Won't you let me see you? —Elsa_

And that's when realization struck.

* * *

Sappho.

The poem was written by Sappho of Lesbos. Kristoff recognized it now.

Which meant that Elsa's anonymous admirer could only have been a woman. And Elsa had consented. Which meant that Elsa was a sapphist.

 _Elsa was a sapphist?_

Kristoff's mind reeled as he carefully laid the notes down on the edge of the bed and took a small step back. To say he was caught off guard would be a tremendous understatement, and through the haze of the bombshell, he could hardly process it all. He had just been trying to get some dirt on Elsa; a little something to joke and gossip with Anna about later. It had never been his intention to uncover something so confidential about his future sister-in-law. As the revelation sunk in, the astonishment gave way to feelings of unease. How could she have harbored such a huge secret?

It wasn't especially hard to believe that the Queen would keep such a thing sequestered from public knowledge, but to conceal it from her own friends and family—even Anna? Clearly, these letters of correspondence were an utmost private affair—so much so that Kristoff couldn't be sure that even Elsa yet knew the identity of her pursuer. The whole situation just didn't seem possible.

As much as Kristoff's brain wished to reject it, he had to yield to the fact that the notes were actually here; they were right in front of him. Every last one was entirely tangible, and he could reach out and pick them up and read them more thoroughly if he wanted to, just to prove it to himself—but he wouldn't; not now. He had seen too much already. The ink was smudged on the tips of his fingers, reminding him what he'd found, and not a single soul in all of Arendelle had any knowledge of what was conspiring for their Queen behind closed doors.

Except for Kristoff. The thought made his mind reel, and he already wished to forget every last bit of knowledge that he had just gained. It wasn't any of his business; it wasn't worth it.

At suddenly hearing Anna's footsteps and humming in the hallway, Kristoff launched into a silent panic and, on the spot, decided not to share his discovery with his fiance. In a frenzied race against time, he scrambled to gather up the letters, rearrange them in (hopefully) the correct order, shove them back between the pages of the book, and—

"Kristoff?"

 _Shit._ Kristoff froze, his hand still halfway inside the open drawer next to the bed. If he didn't already know her so well, the look that she gave him could've made him drop dead on the spot. Come to think of it, he _was_ feeling rather faint all of a sudden. "Anna! I... I, uh—"

"What are you doing?!" Anna demanded, dangerously livid, storming into the room. She rushed to where he was standing and shoved his arm away, and he flinched at the sound of the drawer being slammed shut. "Were you _seriously_ going through Elsa's nightstand? Why would you even—?!"

"No! I was just—you told me to look for her notes!" Kristoff spluttered out, blushing furiously. "That was the joke, right? You were messing with me, so you said to look in the top drawer!"

"Yes, look in her top _dresser_ drawer, Kristoff," Anna reiterated, "Not come in here and snoop through her bedside table!"

Kristoff's eyes drifted away somewhere behind Anna, wandering the room, only to ultimately land on... the dresser. There was a dresser against the wall— _how had he not seen the dresser against the wall?!_ "Oh," he mumbled out, shoulders slumping guiltily, " _That_ dresser."

Anna scoffed, struggling for words as she became convinced of his sincerity. "Jeez, Kristoff. You're such a moron sometimes."

"I didn't see the dresser there," Kristoff admitted, "I thought you'd sent me in here as a joke, y'know, 'cause of what happened last night—"

Anna cringed.

"—So I thought you were pranking me," Kristoff finished lamely, meeting her met her eyes in sheepish apology, "Besides, this is a dresser, isn't it? It's just a little dresser."

"No, it's a bedside table. There's a difference," Anna gave him a look, "And you'd better be really glad that Elsa's so—well, _Elsa,_ okay? 'Cause for just about any other woman on Earth, this could've been so much worse. I wouldn't prank you like that. Elsa's my sister, and girls keep _things_ in there."

"I know," Kristoff groaned, hanging his head, _I know, I know, I know._ Then, covering his face with his hands, he muttered, "Elsa keeps _things_ in there."

"Wait," Anna stammered, "What?"

Kristoff let his arms drop to his sides, his heart already aching for what was to come. What had he been thinking? He couldn't possibly keep it from her; she had every right to know. Or maybe she didn't, but now that he knew, she should know, shouldn't she? There was no justifying it—he simply just didn't want to have to face the news alone. "Look for yourself," he finally said, gesturing to the table drawer that had been open just seconds before.

For a moment, Kristoff actually thought Anna would refuse. And she _did_ consider it. But he looked genuinely distraught over whatever he had seen, which helped to convince her. Surely Elsa wouldn't mind a quick peek; their sisterly trust could withstand anything—and besides, nothing could've been _that_ bad.

Finally, after a long moment of consideration, Anna furrowed her eyebrows in contemplation and reached to slide the drawer back open. Kristoff held his breath as she did, and it was as if he had sucked all of the air out of the room and into his lungs and held it there. The tension was almost physically crushing. Perhaps the walls might be so kind to close in on them before they were forced to face the revelation's reprise—or, maybe, everything was not as it seemed.

Kristoff could only hope.

* * *

The first thing that Anna saw when she peered inside the drawer was Elsa's book. It was right on top, where Kristoff had left it. For several moments, her eyes darted around, searching for whatever could've possibly been so horrifying, but then she remembered: her fiance a rather bad case schoolboy humor, and a frequent tendency to often blow things _way_ out of proportion. "Oh," she breathed, forcing a nervous chuckle, "Okay. I get it. You found the book she was reading last night. Very funny, Kristoff."

In the midst of an internal battle with himself, Kristoff just shook his head. "Anna, I don't think you understand..."

"No, really, it's okay," Anna replied sheepishly, "I don't want to know what it is. I've tried reading the some of the romance stuff she likes. It's okay, but it doesn't really do it for me, if you know what I mean. Not _that way,_ at least."

"No, but..." Kristoff tried to explain, "It's not really a romance novel, it's erotic literature, sort of. It's explicitly sensual, and, um... I really think you should look."

"Don't I _give you enough_ already?"

"No! I mean—yes! I mean... I didn't mean it like that, I just meant—"

Anna giggled, because now he was blushing, and in her opinion at least, he _deserved_ a little of his own humiliation after being so intrusive as to snoop through Elsa's private belongings. "No, but seriously. Why would I?" she finally asked in response to his request.

Kristoff took a deep breath, regaining his composure, and mustered up his courage. "Because, there's something in there I think you should see."

"Babe, isn't it kind of early for experimenting?" Anna asked, grinning, "I mean, we're both still pretty new to this, and—"

"Anna, stop," Kristoff met her eyes unwaveringly, "I'm serious this time. Okay?"

"Oh. 'Kay..?" Anna hesitated, looking at him strangely as she grabbed the book and lifted it from the drawer. As she opened up the front cover and read the blush-worthy title of the first chapter, she already felt ashamed for peeking. "There had _really_ better be a point to this, Kristoff."

"There is; just trust me."

Rolling her eyes, Anna flipped through the first few pages. She landed somewhere about a quarter in, and with deliberate disregard in her tone, lazily began to read a passage aloud. "Pleasure began to flow, to pull hard within her, in spasms that send ecstasy shooting over the..." her voice trailed off, but her eyes trailed on. Moments later, they widened, her jaw slackened, and her face reddened to the point that her fiance had to fight back a sudden bout of laughter. "Oh, _my_."

And then, despite himself, Kristoff really _did_ laugh.

"That's not funny, Kristoff," Anna chided lightly, "Do you have any idea how furious Elsa would be with us if she knew? I don't want to read any more if it. Now I just feel bad."

"Okay, but seriously," Kristoff said as the reality of the situation sunk back in, "I really think you should check somewhere in the middle."

Anna glowered at him.

"Anna, come on. Just look."

With a defeated groan, Anna submitted and leafed through the pages. To her surprise, one of them fell out before she could even reach the middle of the book. She caught it before it could fall to the floor and then frowned down at it in confusion. It wasn't a page; it was a note. And it wasn't in Elsa's handwriting; she could tell immediately by looking at it. "What in the world..?"

"Seems that we didn't give Elsa enough credit," Kristoff said with a wry smile, but then, gradually, his expression morphed into one of unease.

As she read, Anna's face was blank, giving absolutely nothing away. By now, she had already found the rest of the letters in the book and was holding them in her other hand. When she finished the first note, she looked up again, and—to Kristoff's surprise—seemed entirely unfazed. "It just looks like a love poem," said Anna, shrugging one shoulder. "Elsa's gotten anonymous letters like this in the post before. I've seen them. She's never responded, but I know she has plenty of lowborn suitors in Arendelle's townspeople."

Kristoff sighed. _Of course_ Anna didn't get it. She didn't read poetry; especially not that of an ancient Greek lyrist. "You don't see anything odd about that poem?" he prompted.

Anna glanced down at the note again. "What, that it doesn't rhyme?"

"No, what I _meant_ , was, do you know who wrote it?"

"No, _D_ wrote it," Anna replied simply, "Which is why it's _obviously_ meant to be anonymous."

Kristoff nearly screamed in frustration. "No, Anna, that's not what I'm talking about! I meant—"

"It _is_ a bit unusual that Elsa would keep these ones, though..."

"Well, yes, because—"

"'Cause she usually just reads the letters once and then gets rid of them."

"Anna, I'm trying to—"

"So this guy must be a pretty good wooer if he's actually gotten her attention enough to—"

"No! This _guy_ is a woman, okay?!" Kristoff finally blurted out, "Elsa's a sapphist!"

And then finally—for perhaps the first time in her life—Princess Anna fell silent.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Okay," Anna forced a chuckle, regaining her composure, "No, I get it. I see what's going on here."

"You do?" Kristoff looked aimlessly around the bedroom, down at Elsa's stack of love letters, and then back at Anna. The daze of the shock was still heavy in his mind, so maybe he simply failed to perceive some other sort of contrasting interpretation for what he'd found. It would, at the very least, provide some respite for their current situation.

"Yes! You're messing with me, because you still think I sent you in here as a prank," Anna surmised, "You think you're clever, Kristoff; but you can't... Trick... Me!" The Princess punctuated each of the last few words with a playful poke to his side.

Unamused, Kristoff took her hand in his, and then looked her in the eyes. "I'm not kidding."

Anna's smile faltered. "Oh, you're _good,_ " she said after a moment, another grin replacing her expression of uncertainty, "Okay, fine; I admit it, you almost had me for a second there. But I know you too well, and _no one_ pulls the fur over _my_ eyes!"

"It's wool."

"What's... what?"

"It's wool, babe. Not fur."

"Oh, _whatever_."

Kristoff sighed. "Anna, your sister's a sapphist."

"Yes, I know, Honey. And Sven's an elephant. Now can we move on, please?" Anna asked, turning and heading for Elsa's _actual_ dresser to look for her _actual_ notes, but the way that Kristoff lingered in the same spot by the bed made her stop short. "What are you doing? We're missing the whole council meeting, you know."

"But Anna..." Kristoff hesitantly picked up Elsa's stack of love letters again.

"Are you serious?" Anna gave out an incredulous scoff. She once again crossed the room to swipe the notes out of his hands as if he were an unruly child with a toy. "That's really enough, Kristoff. Joke's over, okay? It wasn't even that funny in the first place."

"It's not _funny,_ Anna; it's true. Elsa is—"

"Stop it!" Anna finally snapped, her face reddening, "Just _stop,_ okay?! I said that's enough!" Her eyes displayed some sort of withheld recognition, and Kristoff wondered if maybe this wasn't news to her. Perhaps there had been previous clues of Elsa's more intimate persuasions that only Anna had detected—and now, in the face of such a claim, she had become desperate to deny their legitimacy.

"You already figured it out, didn't you?"

"You're incredible," Anna grumbled under her breath irritatedly.

"No, _you're_ in denial."

"Ugh, really? It was _one time,_ okay?" Anna finally vindicated, "That Yuletide party was a year ago, and it's not like Elsa _asked_ that woman to come onto her! Rapunzel hung up mistletoe everywhere, and they got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. The other girl hoodwinked Elsa into it; and besides, it wasn't even a _real_ kiss."

"Um, what?"

"I can't believe you'd have the audacity to go all the way back on that just to trick me," Anna continued, frowning, "They were drunk—we were _all_ drunk, and you know it!"

Apparently, _very_ drunk. Kristoff had absolutely no recollection of aforementioned incident. But—at this point—it hardly came as a surprise. "This has nothing to do with _that._ These notes are for real, okay? Here, look." He sifted through the stack of letters until he came across the one he had seen before, which all but confirmed the sex of its sender.

 _...they say that women cannot be lovers of one another, but no man could ever love you as I..._

Kristoff pointed the line out to her, and then looked away as if he were too ashamed to let his gaze stray anywhere else on the page. "These notes are from a woman," he reiterated, "And Elsa kept them because she's interested, unlike with all the other letters you've seen. Those were from the _men_ after her hand, but these ones... well, _aren't._ "

With deliberate disregard, Anna quickly skimmed the line. But before she could prepare herself to make up some other intricate excuse of its falsity, she read it again, absorbing its meaning; letting it sink in. By then, her stomach was already rolling to the point that she couldn't possibly repudiate what she was looking at. "Wait, _what_?" she breathed.

For the first time, Kristoff sensed that he'd finally gotten through to her, although he couldn't quite read the expression on her face. "That poem there? That's an ancient verse by Sappho of Lesbos," he repeated again, letting it all spill out at once; giving her absolutely no time to process it all. It was a wonder that he had been able to contain it for so long throughout his fiance's persistent negation. "It was written by a woman, _for_ another woman. And Elsa is—"

"Stop," Anna put her hand up, cutting him off, "That's not... it's not possible. There has to be another explanation."

Kristoff groaned in exasperation.

"Elsa is _not_ a sapphist," Anna insisted, "Do you think she kept these notes to try to find out who would do such a thing? You know, to track her down and let her know that it's not okay, or..?"

Simply shaking his head in refusal, Kristoff pulled Elsa's own note from the stack and handed it to her.

 _D,_  
 _Thank you for seeing me. Won't you let me see you? —Elsa_

Anna stumbled back as if she had been physically stricken, staring down at the letter in her trembling hands. There was no denying it now—this was, undoubtedly, Elsa's own handwriting, complete with the swirled flourish on the _'a'_ at the end of her signature that Anna knew so well. Or, she _thought_ she had known her well... _hadn't she known her well?_

Kristoff quietly took the piece of parchment back from the stunned Princess, watching as an array of emotions flashed across her face. "Anna, are you okay?"

 _How could she keep this from her?_ Yet again, it was just _another_ life-altering secret to add to the ever-growing list between the two royal sisters. And so the justification began: Anna told Elsa everything; down to every last detail of the more intimate side of her relationship with Kristoff. Maybe she hadn't been accommodating enough; maybe she forgot to give Elsa a chance to talk. Maybe if she'd have offered to listen, Elsa would've opened up, and then—maybe—they wouldn't _be_ in this little predicament right now. Or, maybe, Elsa was just _really_ good at keeping secrets, and Anna was _really_ dumb for thinking otherwise. So, in the end, the reliance was fictitious; the trust illusory, and Anna, as usual, was the one who was naïve. And Queen Elsa of Arendelle was homosexual. And yet, for Anna, it remained too hard to believe.

Kristoff tucked the letters back inside the book, and then asked again, "Are you okay?"

"No," Anna choked out, "No, I'm not."

"I just thought you deserved to know," said Kristoff, almost second-guessing his decision, "'Cause, I mean; she's _your_ sister, and..."

"And she repeatedly fails to act like one, by keeping these sorts of things from me over and over again?"

It wasn't a lie, and so Kristoff couldn't counter it. Even when he saw her beginning to fight back tears, all he could do was mumble a sympathetic apology and move in to wrap her up in his arms before the floodgates burst. But then she darted away, and Kristoff was left standing with his arms held out to empty air, stupefied.

"I just—I can't. I have to go," Anna said shakily, moving in to press a quick kiss to his cheek. Then she fled the room, on her way out, whispering, "I'm sorry. I'll see you later, Kristoff."

"Well..." Kristoff stammered uncomfortably, looking around the empty room, having half expecting the mental chaos to have manifested itself into reality, "...That was awkward."

* * *

"...Because the new system will go into effect immediately, once we've finished the construction of..." Elsa trailed off, looking up as the door creaked open. The hour-long council meeting was coming to a close, and a quick glance at the clock told her that Anna and Kristoff had been gone for more than twenty minutes already. By then, the Queen hadn't been expecting them back at all—and she wasn't wrong. _They_ weren't back.

Kristoff was back. He now held the four elusive pages of council notes in his hands, having finally found them after a bit more cautious searching. Just like Anna had originally said, they had been in Elsa's (actual) dresser drawer, right on top: no snooping necessary. "Um, hello," he greeted her, along with the rest of the royal council members who were impatiently staring daggers at him for interrupting their conference.

"Kristoff, where's Anna?" Elsa asked with an exasperated sigh as he took a seat at the table and placed her notes on top of the pile.

"She got held up," said Kristoff; it was the best he could do under pressure. At the moment, he was having a hard enough time even just looking her in the eyes.

To his relief, Elsa didn't question it further. "Well," she breathed, glancing down at her notes, "Thank you, but I'm afraid we've been too delayed to have time to cover any of this today. We'll go over it at our next meeting. For now, I believe we've discussed all that we have time for. Does anyone else have anything to add?"

The council members mumbled their refusal, and Kristoff bit his tongue until it hurt. Elsa had _no_ idea what he and Anna had risked to find those damned notes. If the Princess were here, she would grab the stack records herself and demand that they be put to use; time or no time—but she wasn't here. And Kristoff wasn't brave enough. So he kept quiet.

"Very well, then. Thank you for your attendance today," Elsa concluded, "We are adjourned."

* * *

"Thank you for your time."

"Good progress today, Your Majesty."

"I'll get to work on those reports immediately."

The affiliates in the room began to scatter and make their exit, and one man in particular made it a point to stick around: Kai, the royal handler. As the advisor closest to Elsa in the council, he had been around longer than any of them, he knew her well—well enough to know that she wasn't herself lately. From an outside perspective, the recent discord within the assembly had been impossible to miss. "Your Majesty," he greeted her with a low bow as he approached her.

"Hello, Kai. Thank you for your defense today. Wolff has really begun to try my patience during our last few meetings," Elsa said with a sigh.

"With pleasure. I work in Arendelle's best interest," said Kai, meeting her eyes and then pausing to contemplate the propriety of his next words. The responsibilities of a royal advisor were typically limited to professional affairs, but Kai hoped that this time Elsa might make an exception. "Am I wrong to assume that something's been troubling you recently, Elsa?"

From over where Kristoff was still seated at the table, afraid to leave, the Queen looked flustered. "Well... I may just be dealing with some rather _personal_ matters, as of late," Elsa admitted, her tone brimming with feigned diplomacy, "And I appreciate your concern, but it's nothing to be worrying about. I'll seek out your guidance should I ever need it. Okay?"

Kai looked reluctant to agree, but couldn't quite bring himself to defy his queen. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"I'm fine, Kai," Elsa reiterated, managing a smile, "But thank you."

With a silent nod of understanding, Kai took his leave.

"So," Elsa exhaled as she turned to face Kristoff where he sat alone by himself, "That was fun. Good meeting, right? What was your favorite part?"

Kristoff cringed inwardly as the intensity in her eyes amped up a few notches.

"Oh, _I_ know," Elsa continued, calmly pacing the expanse of the room, "It was the part at the beginning, wasn't it? Oh, wait—you missed that part, didn't you?"

"Elsa..."

"No, it must've been the second part—or wait, no, you missed that too. So maybe it was that part in the middle you were late for. Or perhaps you favored that last part—that you _missed_?"

"I'm sorry," Kristoff whimpered, shrinking under her gaze, "Please don't kill me, Elsa; we didn't mean..." To his horror, the temperature in the room plummeted suddenly, and Elsa raised her arms, summoning up a few swirling gusts of ice and snow. Kristoff gave out a near-silent squeak of terror and squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for impact, and then—

 _Thud._

He was surprised by the feeling of a soft _whack_ on the left side of his chest, and cracked one eye open to peek down at himself—only to find the crumbling remains of a snowball splattered across his jacket. No impaling icicles; no gushing blood or innards spilling out—not even the unpleasant chill of ice down his pants (Anna typically spared no such expenses). When he looked up, Elsa was fighting back a smile.

"But seriously, Kris," the Queen began again, straightening up, "How _dare_ you let Anna stay with you again in the barn last night? What were you two thinking?"

Brushing off the snowball remains, Kristoff finally allowed himself to meet her eyes. "Well, I didn't ask her to stay, she just—"

"Yes, I'm aware, that's why I said _let_ her," Elsa interrupted. There was no question who most often took initiative in their relationship. "And then to be so careless as to let a stable hand find you asleep together? And I repeat— _what were you two thinking_?"

"Well..." Kristoff took a deep breath, preparing himself to give some big explanation; some sort of perfect excuse or speech to quash her worries, "Uh, we weren't thinking."

"Oh." Elsa blinked, pleasantly surprised by his honesty.

"I'm sorry, Elsa," said Kristoff, seeming sincere, "We didn't mean for it to happen... um, _again._ I admit it; we should've known better."

"Well, I suppose that's all right; I mean, as long as you realize..."

"It's just hard sometimes, you know?" Kristoff continued, "Being engaged, and being kept apart every night. It's lonely," he paused a moment, meeting Elsa's eyes, searching for empathy. "I appreciate a chance to actually have her with me every once in a while—not _with_ me—just with me, you know?"

"I understand, Kris," Elsa gave a wistful sigh, "I get it; I do. But you act like I impose these rules just to spite you. Anna is an unmarried princess, which means that by law, she must be chaste. How could I possibly allow you two to stay together at night without any implications?"

Even though was the one that prompted it, Kristoff was shocked that Elsa would have the gall to actually try to discuss this with him. "Elsa, Anna _is_ chaste, okay? I would never—"

Elsa put her hand up to cut him off. "I don't want any excuses, Kristoff; I just want you to be careful," she replied, recomposing herself, and the tone of her voice made it crystal clear exactly _how_ she wanted them to be careful.

In the end, Kristoff was assured that she really was just acting in her younger sister's best interest. Maybe he'd misjudged her. This entire conversation had been a battle of wits, and with that final blow, Elsa had sealed her victory. Kristoff hung his head in defeat. "Yes, Elsa. Sorry. It won't happen again."

"Very good," Elsa nodded curtly, and then gathered up her notes from the table. "Now, for your punishment..."

With a groan, Kristoff leaned forward to slump over the table and cover his head with his arms, half expecting a horde of snowballs to come flying his way. He should've known better than to think this was settled, but such an uncomfortable conversation with his sister-in-law had already seemed punishing enough.

"You and Anna are to go to the school tomorrow afternoon to host the exchange program for the first hour until I arrive," Elsa commanded. It was _not_ a request. "I've got other business to tend to, that'll delay my arrival. And besides, it'll be good for you two, to see how things operate there."

"But Elsa..."

"No _buts_ , Kristoff. It's not up for discussion."

 _Well,_ Kristoff thought as he resigned himself to his fate, _it could've been worse._

* * *

"Does the fish taste different somehow tonight?" Elsa asked, in yet another attempt to make small talk with Anna and Kristoff, "I think Chef Filip changed his recipe."

Dinner, later that evening, was proving itself to be quite strained. The three of them were seated at their usual table in the dining hall, and despite Elsa's efforts to carry on a usual conversation, the other two weren't having any of it. Instead, they continued to exchange numerous subtle glances with each other, offering no more than a few words at a time in response to Elsa's efforts. Their discovery that morning still weighed heavy in their minds. Anna had gotten over most of the shock after taking her time to mull it over all day—and now, all that was left was resentment towards her sister. Naturally, Elsa expected that it was a response to her imposed punishment, and didn't question it.

"I don't know. Tastes fine to me," said Kristoff, using his fork to push his salmon around his plate, "You don't like it?"

"I heard the fishery's breeding season got set back a few months this year," Anna mumbled out.

"Did it?" Kristoff was surprised. It was the longest sentence Anna had spoken all night.

"Yeah," Anna's eyes momentarily flickered up to meet her sister's, "Maybe they gave us all _male_ salmon this time." She then proceeded to make a rather unwarranted—not to mention _inappropriate_ —comment under her breath about how Elsa's apparent dislike of their dinner must've been because she only preferred the taste of female fish.

It was Kristoff's responding choking and coughing fit itself that ensured Elsa didn't quite catch the remark. His face burned red with embarrassment as Anna roughly pounded on his back to dislodge the food stuck in his windpipe, and Elsa simply groaned and berated their lack of refinement. "No, actually, I think—" Kristoff's wheezed, his voice squeaking, "—I think the males and females taste about the same, babe."

"Oh? And how would _you_ know, Kristoff?" Anna challenged. Thankfully, an unexpected visitor in the far doorway saved Kristoff from any further humiliation.

Kai approached them, carrying a single letter from the day's post. "Your Majesty, I'm sorry to disturb you during dinner..."

"Not at all," said Elsa, unfazed by the intrusion, "What's this?"

"The courier just delivered this down at the gate, and he demanded that it be given to you immediately," Kai explained, handing her the sealed envelope.

"Oh?" With a single glance at the letter's seal, Elsa paled and shakily said, "Okay. Thank you, Kai. That'll be all, then." As Kai exited the room, Elsa wasted no time opening and unfolding the note. Anna and Kristoff looked on suspiciously as the Queen's eyes skimmed over the words written on the page, her eyes darkening more with every word that she read.

"Elsa?" Anna asked timidly, concerned.

Kristoff was no less impatient. "What happened?"

"Nothing," said Elsa, lowering the letter and rising from her chair, "Excuse me."

As Elsa hurried out of the room, Anna turned to Kristoff. "You don't think that was her girlfriend, do you?"

"Hmm?" Kristoff inquired, looking up, "Oh, no—probably not, unless it was a break up letter. She actually looked kind of freaked out."

"I saw a royal seal on the envelope," said Anna.

"Maybe her suitor's another Queen."

"No," Anna shook her head, "I recognize that sigil; I just can't remember where I've seen it before."

"We can go up to the library later and look for it, if you want," Kristoff suggested offhandedly, shoveling another forkful into his mouth from his dinner plate.

"Sure. Good idea."

An hour later found the two of them together in the deserted castle library. Anna felt herself being pushed back against an old, dusty bookshelf, and then large, fumbling hands gripped her hips and lifted her onto a desk in the hidden corner of the room. A gasp escaped her lips, but was muffled by Kristoff's mouth. The heated haze of passion and such rare isolation provided the perfect cover for them to lose themselves in each other, and the opportunity did not go untaken. She hitched up her skirts, he unbuckled his belt, and their previous intentions were lost.

Their more official business was all but forgotten.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"What are we even doing here?" asked Kristoff. He and Anna were standing in an empty classroom in Arendelle's primary academy, sorting through the stack of paperwork that had been given to them by the schoolteacher when they had first came in In less than ten minutes, their punishment was set to begin

"I told you, we're supposed to be running Arendelle's school exchange program," Anna said, motioning to the lesson plan. As they sifted through the pages, they found that it incorporated a vast assortment of study topics, revolving mainly around Norwegian culture: a bit of geography, some history, and even some old Nordic mythology. "Elsa usually teaches it, but we're stuck running it today because _you_ forgot to wake me up in time yesterday morning."

"Hey, I told Sven to wake us up at sunrise, all right?" Kristoff replied in defense, "His internal time clock's been off since you fed him all that lutefisk last month."

Before Anna could argue, the sound of the school bells ringing brought them back to the present. _Five more minutes._

They searched through the papers with a bit more ambition, trying to decide on what the day's lesson would be. To Kristoff, it didn't seem much like schoolwork at all. Teaching it looked to be even more challenging than he had anticipated. "Why would the kids need to learn this stuff? It's not even educational. Can't we just read them a story or something 'til Elsa shows up?"

Anna rolled her eyes at his simplicity. Apparently, Kristoff hadn't yet been made aware of it—but six months prior, Elsa and a few other rulers in the Scandinavian region had agreed to experiment with the idea of an educational exchange program. The Princess detailed to her fiance what little about it she actually knew:

For a single school year, a class of students would be sent off to one of the neighboring countries to study abroad. In return, some of that country's own schoolchildren would be sent back. The result would, in theory, be improved education and cultural enlightenment for both parties involved.

For Arendelle, this was the first time something of this sort had been attempted, and it had gotten plenty of objections due to its sheer costliness. Eventually, its supporters—including Queen Elsa herself—had triumphed. Soon enough, the task had gotten underway of contacting rulers of other areas, and many of them had embraced the concept with enthusiasm.

Once all of the formalities had been established, it hadn't been difficult for some of the larger Nordic regions to find countries to swap with. And finally, after a bit of searching, Arendelle had found its own collaborator: a small Celtic nation, several days journey across the Western Sea.

The program now had been in effect since the beginning of the current school year.

"So where are these kids from, then?" Kristoff asked once Anna had finished her explanation.

"I don't know; some Scottish kingdom. DunBroch, or something," Anna recalled, shrugging. Then she smiled. "I've sat in on a few of Elsa's lessons before. There's about a dozen little kiddies that come in. They're _so_ cute, and Elsa's such a good teacher."

"She teaches them this stuff?" Kristoff glanced at the lesson plan again. For a bunch of young schoolchildren, it seemed a bit bland. "It doesn't seem like very much fun."

"Is school ever really _fun,_ though?"

"Of course it is," said Kristoff, puzzled. "Isn't it?"

"I think troll schooling is a little different than how we do it here," Anna reckoned, "But maybe we can do it that way."

Kristoff brightened considerably. "Could we? I've already got so many ideas for how to—"

"Wait," Anna interrupted him, reaching to grab a letter that was sticking out the middle of the lesson plan, "What's this?" There was no seal on the parchment, and the page was halfway unfolded, allowing for the two of them to read the handwritten words:

 _We agree to your terms for extra time to deliver the key, but we refuse to negotiate further; we will not bargain with the likes of you. As of this hour, you are allowed exactly one week to meet our demands. Pray that we do not succumb to the impatience and change our minds. Also, tell your spies to be wary what they go prying into. They may not like what they find._

"This isn't part of the lesson plan, is it?" Kristoff asked, concerned.

"No, it's not," said Anna, "I think someone just stuck this in here for Elsa to find."

"It looks like a threat. Is someone threatening her?"

"I don't know. Maybe we really _should_ have gone to that meeting yesterday," Anna sighed.

Kristoff nodded in agreement, but he wasn't worried. Anyone stupid enough to threaten Elsa would surely get what was coming to them. The Queen was much more dangerous than she seemed, even _without_ anybody else's defense. "Should we ask her about it? Maybe we could offer to help."

"We're no help, Kristoff; we can't even figure out how to teach a class of schoolchildren for an hour…" Anna mumbled. If her sister ever decided she needed her help, she'd come to her herself. Otherwise, Anna's sole responsibility was to stay out of the way and keep herself out of trouble. It was an existence she had long ago resigned herself to, and this situation was no different. "Let's just put it back and pretend we didn't see it. Elsa can take care of herself."

As reluctant as he was to do so, Kristoff slid the letter back into the pile of school lessons and pushed the unsettling thoughts from his mind. "Okay, so..."

"So, I think we're supposed to show the children what Arendelle's culture is like," said Anna, quickly changing the subject.

Kristoff nodded. "Seems easy enough."

"I doubt Elsa expects us to stick to the lesson plan today. You said you had some ideas?"

"Well, a few. We only have to make it through the first hour, so maybe we can just..."

"Wing it?" Anna suggested hopefully.

"Works for me," Kristoff agreed, gathering up the papers in the lesson plan and then tossing to land on the desk. They both chuckled, and were interrupted by the distant sound of the clock tower bells chiming from across town.

Anna took a deep breath and shared one more brief look with Kristoff. "Ready?"

"Ready," he confirmed.

On the third chime of the bells, the door burst open, and a flurry of giggling children streamed into the classroom. Several of the schoolboys immediately ran to Kristoff and playfully attempted—and failed—to tackle him. But as he looked to his right, he saw that Anna hadn't been so lucky. She had already been pulled to the floor in a tumultuous sort of group hug.

As he attempted to shake off one particularly willful boy who clung to his leg, Kristoff groaned. _Well,_ he thought defeatedly, _let the punishment commence._

* * *

"Did you use that entire box of sugar?"

"No, you're supposed to move it away _before_ it goes up in flames!"

"Boys! How many times do we have to tell you; we do _not_ throw eggs at each other!"

Sometime later, Kristoff and Anna were in the school courtyard, attempting to bring a dozen Scottish students back under control. It had quickly been established that none of the children favored staying in the classroom for the entire hour. So, instead—at Kristoff's suggestion—they had made their way outside, and he had built a blazing bonfire in the sand pit. In the meantime, Anna had retrieved some ingredients from the market next door.

Now, the two of them were doing their best to teach the children to make krumkake. It had proven to be much more challenging than any of them had expected. The recipe was normally cooked in an iron griddle or over a stove, and cheap copper frying pans and open flame were rather unworthy substitutes (not to mention the fact that neither Kristoff nor Anna were particularly good at cooking). Still, the two of them had justified it by saying that the Norwegian dessert was an important part of their culture here in Arendelle. It had seemed much more interesting than studying history or geography, and the children were more than happy to stray from Elsa's usual lesson plan.

Each and every student had been given portioned ingredients and cooking utensils, and the first explanation of the recipe had gone over smoothly. Anna had begun to believe that maybe—for once—she'd actually done something right. But, unfortunately, things had turned from fun to chaotic with the first thrown egg. Now, it had all morphed into sticky, sweet anarchy.

"No, wait, that doesn't go there!"

"Put that egg down _this_ instant, or we'll—"

The admonition died in Anna's throat, suddenly seeing Elsa who had appeared at the edge of the courtyard. Elsa stood gaping as she took in the whole scene. "What—why—how did you—?!" the Queen balked, gesturing to a boy with broken eggs in his hair, and a girl covered entirely head-to-toe in flour, " _What_ is going on here?!"

All of the students went still at the sound of her voice. But the silence lasted only a moment, followed promptly by delighted cheers of, "Queen Elsa!" and a stampede of grubby schoolchildren running to greet her. Elsa managed to put her arms out and stop them before they had a chance to cover her in whatever Anna and Kristoff were already covered in.

"Um..." Anna forced a nervous chuckle as she approached her, wiping her hands on the front of her ruined dress, "We made krumkake; you want some?"

"You might have to scrape it off of Niall, though," Kristoff added quietly.

Elsa blinked, and stared at them blankly for several seconds. Then she swallowed hard and took a deep breath to calm herself—but her voice still shook with anger when she spoke again. "One hour. I left you two in charge for _one hour,_ " she stated, "And I show up here to find my students baked into a Norwegian dessert? I swear, Anna—"

"Yes, and that's the best part!" Anna interrupted, "It's our culture, and that's what this whole thing is about, right? Right, Kristoff?"

"Mmm?" Kristoff finished licking the powdered sugar from his fingers, "Oh. Yeah, that's right! See, Elsa? You don't have anything to worry about; we've got it all under control."

Elsa groaned. "Yes, because that's exactly what we want; for these children to go back to Scotland and tell the others what you've done," she deadpanned, and both Anna and Kristoff winced. "You know, I've always wanted the Celts to think that Scandinavians smear each other with raw egg. It's such a perfect display of our culture in Arendelle. Don't you two agree?"

"Elsa..." Anna was getting worried. Elsa had a tendency to get agitated by even the smallest of nuisances, but the sarcasm was rare. It was how the Princess could tell when she had _really_ crossed the line. "Look, it's not a big deal, okay? We'll apologize to the host families. We'll even compensate the children for the clothes we ruined."

"They could use some new clothes, anyway," Kristoff noted, "Those man skirts have _got_ to go."

"It's a kilt, ye numpty," one of the older schoolboys muttered under his breath.

"I think Prince Kristoff would look good in a kilt," a girl declared matter-of-factly, earning several murmurs of agreement from the other children, and a single stifled giggle from Anna.

"Okay, this isn't going to work," Elsa decided, looking around at them all, "We'll have to reschedule the rest of today's lesson for tomorrow. You all need to go home and get cleaned up. I should've known better than to leave Anna and Kristoff in charge."

"We're sorry, Elsa," Anna sighed apologetically.

A few girls went to her side to console her. "Princess Anna is a good teacher," one one of them claimed.

"She learned us well today, Elsa," a boy said assuredly, and then the rest of them chimed in.

"Aye, she did for sure."

"Don't worry about the mess."

"It was all just in good fun, ken?"

Somehow, they managed to quell some of Elsa's fears—or, at least, she didn't look ready to freeze Anna and Kristoff on the spot anymore. "Well, it's not about that, children; it's about diplomacy," the Queen calmly explained, "It's about making a good impression—"

 _Bang!_

Elsa was interrupted by the sound of the gate being thrown open from somewhere behind her, followed by a familiar and hearty voice laughing and saying, "Jings, crivvens; what the bloody hell happened out here?"

"Oh, hi, Merida," Anna happily greeted her.

Merida DunBroch, Scotland's Crown Princess, had been sent to accompany the schoolchildren to Arendelle for the entirety of their stay during the year. After so much time being confined to her hometown, she had been more than happy for an opportunity to travel abroad without her mother or father's supervision. By way of Queen Elinor's request, three of Merida's younger brothers: Hamish, Hubert and Harris, the royal ten-year-old triplets, had been appointed as honorary students into the program.

In fact, Elsa mentally noted that _they_ seemed to be the ones covered in the most raw pastry dough (and had quite possibly started this whole mess). Merida seemed to find the situation hilarious, but Elsa was mortified. "Princess," the Queen turned to face her, blushing furiously as Merida took in the sight of the disheveled little princes, "I am _so_ sorry. I made the mistake of leaving my sister and her fiance in charge for the first hour today, and... Well, it seems that they might've, um..."

Fighting back another bout of laughter, Merida scooped a bit of the batter off of her brother's doublet and licked it from her fingers. "Mmm. Is that cake?"

"Krumkake, actually," Anna chimed in helpfully. She actually rather liked Merida—they had met for the first time several months prior, and now saw each other regularly at the school. "The key to it is adding just a little bit of cinnamon after the cream has been mixed in," she explained.

"It's very good," Merida replied contentedly, peering over at the still-blazing bonfire for more, "Is that your own recipe, then?"

"No," said Anna, "It's actually Elsa's."

"Yes," Elsa agreed, fixing Anna and Kristoff with an irate stare, "But when _I_ make it, we typically just _bake_ the batter. We don't wear it."

"Oh, Elsa; relax. A wee dessert never hurt anybody. I'll take the bairns to the bathhouse before we send them home," Merida smiled and casually patted Elsa on the shoulder, "Dinnae fash yourself, darling."

Then Elsa flushed and instinctively executed an awkward sort of evading-ducking maneuver to avoid the other girl's touch, and the rejection was almost _too_ hasty. Anna tried not to react, telling herself she just was reading too far into things—but then she caught Kristoff's eye. He had noticed, too. And since when was it okay to call a queen _darling_? But no, _surely_ they were overthinking it. Maybe it was just a Scottish thing. A cultural difference. Yes, that had to be it. And Elsa was just _Elsa_ , which was enough of an excuse in and of itself.

"No, it's okay. You're right," Elsa finally said, regaining her composure and completely missing her sister's subtle response, "I guess cake batter could never do any real harm."

"No," said Merida over the sound of the fire's ongoing pops and sizzles as krumkake batter dripped into the flames, "But a brush fire might."

As if right on cue, the fire roared and completely engulfed several of the shrubs bordering the courtyard. "Shit!" Kristoff swore, promptly running to grab a bucket and fill it up at the pump. By the time he had thrown the water over the flames, the blazes had nearly doubled in size. The rapidly-spreading inferno grew to cover an entire corner of the courtyard, and the group looked on in horror.

Anna hurried to huddle the children together, standing in front of them to guard them from the fire. "Be careful, Kristoff!" she called to her fiance as he went back for a second, and then a third bucket of water—but progress was slow. Hoping to help, some of the schoolboys slipped by Anna and pulled leftover ingredients from their pockets. They then proceeded to fling the various food items at the fire, and Kristoff found himself being pelted in the back with raw eggs as he worked to douse the flames. The whole situation was so ridiculous that if Elsa weren't already so furious, she might've laughed. Merida already _was_ laughing.

"This isn't working!" Kristoff shrieked despairingly, racing back to the pump for yet another bucket of water.

Finally, Elsa walked to his side, raising her arms. She took a moment to summon her strength, and breathed in deeply—and then expelled all of her energy in the form of a rippled shockwave of ice that she sent spiraling forth. In an instant, every last bit of the blaze was snuffed out, and there were only a few charred bushes left at the edge of the courtyard to show for it.

Kristoff slumped over in relief—but _apparently_ one of Scotland's princes had rather slow reflexes: as Elsa turned around again, she suddenly found herself stumbling back with the impact of a cracking _splat_ on her chest. Stunned, she looked down to find remnants of an eggshell and cold, gooey stickiness dripping down the hollow of the front of her dress, right into...

 _Oh._

Elsa blushed deeper than Anna had ever seen. In fact, her face seemed to be even redder than the fire that she had just put out, and her arms were held out stiffly by her sides; her jaw hanging open on its hinges. Everything was suddenly silent, as if every last one of them was afraid to even breathe.

Until Merida snorted with laughter.

After a delayed moment of hesitation, the children followed along, as did Anna and Kristoff.

And, eventually, all of them dissolved into unconcealed hysterics...

Including Elsa.

* * *

"Well, that was fun," said Merida when the mayhem had finally died down. She pulled one of her brothers aside and knelt down to address him, "Harris, what do ye say to Queen Elsa for egging her bosie, hmm?"

The other two redheaded boys barely concealed their giggles as Harris approached Elsa, his eyes downcast. "Sorry for the egg," he mumbled out shyly, "And for the mess 'n stuff."

Elsa chuckled sheepishly. "That's all right, M'lord," she told him, offering him an only half-joking curtsey (he _was_ royalty, after all). "But you ought to be careful about that. Maybe work on your aim; a prince must be precise."

"Och, please," Merida cut in, "These boys couldn't have good aim if it killed them. Believe me; I've teached them since they were just wee ones."

"Ah, so you spend time flinging raw eggs at maidens, then?" Elsa teased, arching an eyebrow at her, fully aware that Merida was only talking about archery. At this point, she had already lost all of her dignity. There was no motive left for decorum.

Merida played right along, narrowing her eyes at her playfully, "And more effective than snowballs, _Your Royal Majesty_."

"Oh, don't you dare tempt me," Elsa smirked, bringing her hands together to form a small flurry of ice and snow: the perfect amount to be packed into a weapon, before dissolving it away again in demonstrative warning.

Meanwhile, Anna and Kristoff just looked on in shock at the scene before them. It probably (or hopefully) wasn't _nearly_ as bad as it seemed. It wasn't as if Elsa and Merida were _actually_ flirting. No—that couldn't have been it at all. They were just playing around. Never mind the fact that Elsa rarely ever let anybody tease her about her powers without actual, life-threatening consequences. This was just a fluke. It had to be.

Now, Elsa and Merida were standing closer together and talking more quietly and Anna and Kristoff couldn't hear them all the way from the edge of the courtyard, so they rushed over to them. "So," Anna cut in, quite literally throwing herself between them and interrupting her sister, "We should probably get to work cleaning all this up, huh?"

Elsa seemed slightly miffed at the intrusion, but she hid it well. "No, Anna, _you and Kristoff_ should get to work cleaning this up," she replied firmly. "And then write notes to the children's host families. Give them each a few skillings for new clothes; it'll come out of your own savings. After you deliver them all, Anna, you're confined to the castle grounds for the rest of the night."

It wasn't ideal, but Anna should've expected it. It could've been worse. And besides, she had already decided that she was going to try to get to the bottom of this whole Elsa-situation. Being grounded would give her time to think.

And time to plan her next move.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Okay, so we're up to four now. There's Delia, Dorith, Desireé and Dønet," Anna listed off, reading the names that she had written down on her notepad, "And we've already established that it can't be Dagunn or Danhilda, right?"

Kristoff looked up lazily from where he was reclined in an armchair, twiddling a pen between his thumbs. "Babe, what are you even doing?"

Shortly after the two of them had returned to the castle from delivering their apology notes, Elsa had insisted that Anna go to the library to study until suppertime. She had apparently decided that confining the Princess to the castle grounds wasn't quite weighty enough. So, dragging her feet the whole way, Anna had indeed gone to the library, and Kristoff had also tagged along—but not to study.

Anna was on a mission. She was going to figure this whole thing out once and for all, and crack the case of Queen Elsa of Arendelle. In the two days that had passed since she'd found out her sister's big secret, she had barely spoken to her. It was difficult to even look her in the eyes anymore, knowing what she was trying so hard to hide. So there was no question—Anna needed a plan.

The shock had finally worn off, and now she had a new method. She called her plan _Operation Elsapphist_ (much to Kristoff's amusement). _Phase one_ had already begun: figure out who Elsa's secret admirer was. Surely it wouldn't be easy, as Anna was fairly certain that _Elsa_ didn't even know the woman's true identity yet. In her stack of letters, there had been a note that the Queen had written herself, agreeing to meet the other woman, but it had been scribbled out and retained.

Luckily, Anna was good at getting to the bottom of things. She wouldn't give up until she had answers. If Elsa wasn't going to given them to her, she'd simply find them herself. It couldn't be _too_ terribly difficult to track somebody down. She had already compiled a list of all of the women regularly present on the castle grounds whose first initial was _D,_ and... Well, that was about all she had done. It was a start, though.

"Anna... look," Kristoff sighed, watching his fiance stare down at her list of names as if one of them might suddenly jump off of the page and present itself, "Did you ever think that maybe— _possibly_ —this isn't a good idea?"

Anna looked up, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"Well, maybe we shouldn't be going behind your sister's back, trying to track this mystery woman down," Kristoff suggested lightly. "Maybe you should just talk to Elsa about all of this. Tell her you found out."

"And tell her you snooped?"

"You snooped too!" Kristoff exclaimed in defense—but she had a point. "Okay, maybe you shouldn't talk to Elsa. Maybe you should just wait. She'll tell you when she's ready, won't she?"

"Would she?" Anna was asking herself just as much as she was asking him. It was hard enough to even get Elsa to talk about romantic relationships at all; never mind her own (and her apparent, rather _unconventional_ inclinations). "I don't think she would. She's weird about that stuff," the Princess decided.

"It just seems kind of personal," Kristoff mumbled.

Elsa was entitled to a little privacy. It was only fair. But the fact that she was the _Queen_ made the whole situation a bit more complicated. And Anna was right—maybe if they tracked this woman down before Elsa did, they could put a stop to it. Handle it with tactfulness, for the good of the kingdom; for the future of Arendelle, and the revolution that would ensue if such information were to be exposed. It's what Elsa would want, if it hadn't already been about her. But to Kristoff and Anna, it made perfect sense that _this_ was the right thing to do.

"Okay," Kristoff finally sighed, leaning over to look at the notebook, "So Dagunn and Danhilda are out, then?"

* * *

"So here's the plan," Anna was whispering to Kristoff later that evening. They were huddled at the far end of the hallway on the ground floor of the castle, near the Servants' Quarters. "I go in there and tell Delia that we're conducting a survey on Elsa's queenness and that she's been chosen as a subject, and you do your best to get some information out of her. Any questions?"

"No, more of a statement," said Kristoff, "I don't think _queenness_ is a word."

Anna huffed in frustration and rolled her eyes. "That's not the point! We're just doing this for clues," she reminded him. "So let's go."

Making their way down the hallway, the two of them appeared at the doors to one of the women's chambers, where many of them were already preparing to retire to bed for the night. They greeted Anna and Kristoff with gracious curtsies and murmurs of _Good evening, Your Highness_ , and began asking how they could be of service. It was after their usual working hours, but a visit from the Princess to the servants' quarters was a most uncommon sight.

"Good evening, ladies," Anna chirped happily, "I was just stopping in. Have any of you seen Delia around tonight? We were just..." she trailed off as the woman in question emerged from the wardrobe at the far end of the room, "Oh, there you are. May we have a word?"

Ignoring the questioning stares from the other women, Delia made her way across the room and stepped out into the hallway with Anna and Kristoff. "Is there something you needed my help with, Your Highness?" she asked Anna, cautiously eyeing the notepad and pen in her hand. "Have I done something wrong?"

 _Quite possibly, yes,_ Anna thought, judging her demeanor. She seemed awfully nervous—but then again, a Princess asking for you personally could make _anyone_ nervous. "No, not at all," Anna said instead, "Actually, I was just conducting a survey tonight; maybe you've heard of it? I'm interviewing certain subjects around the castle about Queen Elsa."

Delia seemed to relax a bit. "Oh. I don't believe I've heard anything about a survey; no."

"Well, now you have," Anna replied, grinning innocently, "And you've been chosen as a subject. I just want to know your opinion on Elsa's, um, queenness." _Damn,_ Anna thought. Kristoff had been right; it sounded ridiculous.

"Do you mean her royal conduct?" Delia guessed, maintaining her composure. The servants were no strangers to Anna's often-eccentric behavior. "As in how she treats her servants, as an employer? Or her regality as a monarch? Or..?"

This was very quickly going downhill, so Kristoff jumped in, in an attempt to salvage the situation. "What's your opinion of Elsa?" he blurted.

"Of Elsa, as a queen?"

"No, of Elsa, as a person," Kristoff clarified. "She's pretty, right?"

"Kristoff!" Anna scoffed. _So much for tact._

Now Delia seemed to be having trouble disguising her amusement. "I'm sorry; you're running a survey on Queen Elsa's _looks_?" she asked, barely concealing a chuckle. "Of course, she's lovely, yes; but it's a little unclear what that has to do with me..?"

Blushing, Anna scribbled out Delia's name on the list.

* * *

"...And we were just wondering what you would think of Queen Elsa officially being introduced into courtship for the first time," Anna was saying.

After some searching, she and Kristoff had tracked down Dorith, one of the royal seamstresses. Kristoff had seemed doubtful that she was Elsa's admirer, as Dorith was nearly twenty years Elsa's senior—but they couldn't be too sure. Anna had justified the whole thing by launching into a rather awkward monologue about how easy it would be for a seamstress to fall for Elsa, what with all the up-close and personal measuring and clothes-fitting and touching _things_ , and merely for the sake of getting her to stop talking, Kristoff had gone along with it.

"Oh, I wouldn't be at all opposed, Your Highness," Dorith answered formally. "In fact, from what I've gathered, most of Arendelle's citizens would encourage it."

"Oh?" Anna snuck a sideways look at Kristoff, and he just rolled his eyes.

"Indeed," Dorith nodded assuredly. "Her Majesty is in her prime. Should she find a worthy suitor, it's best that they marry and conceive an heir sooner rather than later."

Anna faltered where she had been ready to jot down any clues on her notepad, and nearly dropped her pen. "Uh, wait, I really don't think—"

"Continuation of the royal bloodline is vital for the future of Arendelle," Dorith added.

Anna sighed. Instead of writing down clues, she drew a big _X_ over Dorith's name. "But, um..." she lowered her notepad, and then stammered, "If Elsa didn't ever bear children, what would happen then?"

Dorith's eyebrows dipped. "Whatever do you mean? Your sister is in good health," she replied, "The chance of her being barren is extremely unlikely."

"Right, but if she just _chose_ not to continue the bloodline..."

"Oh, no. Her Majesty _will_ produce an heir, unless she's prepared for complete royal upheaval. It's out of the question, Princess."

Shoulders slumping, Anna glanced over at Kristoff again. Perhaps the whole situation was bit more complicated than they'd given it credit for. They needed to get to the bottom of this, before Elsa doomed herself—and took the whole realm of Arendelle down with her.

* * *

"Yes, I absolutely think that Her Majesty will be sought after, should she begin courting," Dønet, one of the castle cooks, was saying. Talking with Desireé, the gardener, had proven fruitless: she had only just returned a week ago from visiting a neighboring kingdom, and therefore couldn't have been the one leaving the notes. "In fact," Dønet continued, "My husband is so smitten that sometimes I think he forgets he's already married to me!"

"...Your husband?" Anna repeated incredulously. Then, with a grunt of frustration, she scribbled out the very last name on her notepad. "Okay. Thank you for your time, Dønet. You may return to your quarters."

In the meantime, Anna and Kristoff began their dejected trek back to the library, where they eventually collapsed into armchairs and Anna tossed her notepad onto a nearby desk. "Well," she sighed, "That was a bust."

"You know what I just realized?" Kristoff asked absently.

"What's that?"

Kristoff pushed himself up to sit straighter. "The Great Hall is in the State Property section of the castle. It's open to the public most days, just like the rest of the Lower-West Wing. This woman we're dealing with could be anyone in Arendelle."

Anna fixed him with an incredulous stare. "And you couldn't have remembered that _before_ we went around interrogating our castle handmaidens?"

"Well, what's _your_ excuse?"

"I don't need an excuse, Kristoff; I'm the Princess, remember?"

Kristoff laughed. "The Princess who doesn't even know the layout of her own castle," he teased.

"Wait," Anna stopped short, "That's it! The Great Hall. It's so simple!"

"What's simple?"

"We wait for a day when Elsa flies the flag as their signal, and then we hang around in the Great Hall to see who shows up later that night!" said Anna, "That's where this woman leaves the notes, right? Behind the smallest portrait? So all we have to do is watch until she shows up, and then we'll know for sure."

Kristoff had to admit it; it was almost the perfect plan. Except for one tiny, _little_ flaw. "So then what?" he prompted, curious. "We tackle her down, steal the note, and make sure that she and Elsa never get involved with each other?"

"Oh, I haven't thought that far ahead yet," Anna replied dismissively, waving him off, "It doesn't matter. First we need to find out who she is; that's our next step."

So it was settled, then. _Let Phase Two commence._

* * *

After endless waiting, the moment of opportunity came: four full days later. By then, Anna and Kristoff had nearly forgotten about their little scheme, and had only been reminded when Kristoff had happened upon a few servants carrying the flag up the stairway at the southern end of the castle. He had immediately run to inform Anna, and now the two of them were camped out in the far corner of the Great Hall, impatiently watching Arendelle's townspeople come and go.

It was a weekend, which meant that the public sections of the castle were bustling with activity. Arendelle's citizens often visited the Great Hall to admire their past rulers' portraits, and enjoy the free drinks and sweets that were offered by the servants there. Because of the cold weather today, it was especially crowded with people seeking a leisurely indoor activity on their day off from work—which made the whole plan all the more difficult.

It had taken a while for Anna and Kristoff to locate the smallest painting in the room. It was miniature portrait; one of the oldest still there, displayed in an ornate silver frame: _King Edvind of Arendelle, 1512._ Because of its small size, it was hard to keep an eye on. It certainly didn't help that it was situated directly behind the dessert table, where traffic was heaviest. Dozens of people would come and go every minute, so watching for someone leaving a note was no easy task. It would only take a second; if they blinked, they would miss it.

So—just to be safe—Anna tried not to blink. Her eyes were watering, and after their sixth hour of watching and waiting, Kristoff was getting worried—not to mention bored out of his mind. "Babe, maybe this was a bad idea. Somebody already could've left the letter without us noticing," he pointed out.

"No! No. They haven't; I've been watching every single woman in here since the flag went up," Anna insisted in exasperation, "All _four-hundred and eight_ women! And now I really need the toilet and I knew I shouldn't have had all that cocoa earlier but I'm not leaving _this spot_ until I see a woman leave _that note_ behind _that portrait_ for _that stupid secret-keeping sister_ of mine!"

"Anna, just calm down, all right?" Kristoff scoffed, taking her hand, "Relax. Just... run to the garderobe down the hall. I'll keep watch; I promise."

Anna hesitated, still not entirely convinced she could trust him. But she was desperate, and he had promised. With a defeated sigh, she finally took a small step in the direction of the doors. "Fine, but I'll be quick, okay? Seriously, like—two seconds. I'll be right back. _Don't blink_!" And then she took off in a sprint down the hallway.

Shaking his head, Kristoff watched her go. Then he lazily leaned back against the wall, staring at the portrait in a near daze. Over the course of the day, he had become extremely glad that he was an ice harvester instead of a guard. Being forced to stand vigil for full days on end must've been terrible. As he watched, it felt like only seconds had passed whenever Anna appeared by his side again. He wasn't sure if it was because he had spaced out, or because she really had been that quick—but for the sake of escaping his fiance's wrath, he hoped for the latter.

"Did you see her? Did she leave the note? You'd better not have missed her, Kristoff!"

Kristoff groaned. "Babe, no one's even coming, okay? Can we _please_ just—"

"Wait!" Anna slapped a hand over his mouth to hush him, and Kristoff pushed her arm away with an indignant grunt. But when he looked up, he instantly realized the source of the outburst.

A short, round man in a suit who had been lingering by the dessert table for quite some time had finally approached the portrait in question. At first, he only seemed to be admiring it, but when he reached inside the front of his jacket to retrieve something, both Anna and Kristoff stopped breathing altogether. With a deliberately casual demeanor, the man pulled out folded piece of parchment and tucked it behind the portrait over the course of two seconds, and then took a step back and casually looked around. He didn't seem to notice Anna and Kristoff staring his way from the other side of the room.

To Anna, there was no mistaking his identity: _Kai._ She simply looked on in shock, racking her brain for some other explanation, but coming up empty. She watched as the royal handler smiled contentedly, and then moved around the outer edge of the room, pretending to look at some of the other paintings—and then slipped out of the doors, completely undetected.

 _Or so he thought._

* * *

Meanwhile, both Anna and Kristoff stared on in shock, their mouths agape.

"Elsa's sapphist admirer..." Kristoff stammered out shakily, "...Is a _man_?"

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Anna spluttered.

Never mind the fact that he was a man—he was _Kai—_ the same Kai who had been a butler to the royal family since King Agnarr and Queen Iduna had been Anna and Elsa's age. The same Kai whom had been entrusted with the secret of Elsa's powers, even when Anna herself had not. The same Kai who was, for lack of a better word, _ancient_ in comparison to Elsa. There was no plausible reason for the older man to have ulterior motives and be posing as a young woman attempting to woo the Queen. Anna trusted him. Even _now,_ she trusted him.

"There has to be another explanation," the Princess decided. "Those notes clearly stated that they were from a woman, didn't they? We couldn't possibly have misunderstood?"

"No, it was right there in black and white," Kristoff confirmed.

"Well, then." Anna made up her mind: _it was time for phase three._ Squaring her shoulders in all of the courage she could muster, she began pushing her way through the crowd. Kristoff trailed along behind her, tripping over himself to keep up. With all the people around, talking and enjoying each other's company, no one noticed as Anna lifted the portrait up and retrieved the folded letter from underneath. Sharing a quick look with Kristoff, she tucked the note into her pocket and silently motioned for him to follow her out of the room.

This phase of the plan would be best conducted in private.

* * *

"What the hell _is_ this?" Kristoff asked in disbelief, gesturing to the note that had been spread out on the desk before them. He and Anna were currently in the library again, trying to decipher what Kai had left. Unfortunately, it had proven to be a bit more difficult than it looked.

In the process of unfolding the note, the two of them had been caught off guard by the presence of an item that had been wrapped up in the parchment. At a glance, it looked to be an obsidian stone of some kind; the shape of an arrowhead, with rigid teeth carved into the left edge. They could see their reflection in its glossy surface. Upon closer inspection, Kristoff had noticed that three unfamiliar symbols had been carved into one side of it, which ominously seemed to glow when held up to the light. Anna was almost afraid to touch it.

"I think it's written in runes," Kristoff informed the princess, referring to the note that had accompanied their arrowhead discovery. _And such perfect timing, too._ The _one_ time that they'd actually been able to get their hands on one of these letters, they couldn't even make any sense of it.

"Why would be it be coded? None of the other ones were written like this, were they?"

"No, none," Kristoff confirmed. "Maybe it's on purpose. They're obviously upping the security of it, so maybe they're getting serious. Like... Y'know, _serious_."

"Is that possible?" Anna asked, not entirely comfortable with that idea.

"At this point, anything is possible, babe," Kristoff sighed. "And obviously, Kai isn't the one writing the letters. He's just been sent to deliver them. It's another security measure. They've really thought this thing through."

"Well, in that case..." Anna made her way over to one of the bookshelves, "Let's prove to them that we're on their level. Elsa's smart, but I'm no idiot either." After a bit of searching, she pulled out a dusty old book from the bottom shelf, and laid it on the table. It didn't take long for her to locate the page with a runic translator.

Kristoff gave her a look. "You're kidding, right?"

"I don't kid," Anna stated, handing him a pen. "Now sit down and help me translate."

* * *

Over the course of the next hour, Anna and Kristoff worked to piece the whole thing together. The note itself wasn't long, but translating it wasn't easy. Elsa's knowledge of the ancient runic alphabet was much more extensive than they'd realized, and Anna was now wishing that she had paid much more attention to those lessons during her schooling years. Naturally, as Kai was the one delivering the note, it meant that Elsa herself was the one that had written it and sent it out. Even with the unfamiliar symbols, Anna recognized her handwriting.

It was the first time, as far as Anna and Kristoff knew, that Elsa had directly responded. Of course, that had only made them _more_ eager to see what she could've been saying to her prospective suitor. Perhaps she was finally agreeing to meet her in person. Anna had to know—so even when Kristoff had suggested giving up, she insisted that they push onward. They were well into the dark of night before they sat back in their chairs: exhausted, but finished.

"Okay," Anna breathed, rubbing her forehead, "I think we finally got it. Read it out."

Kristoff picked up the piece of parchment that he had written on. "Here's what we got. She wrote, _Here is key, three days early. Useless as long as the map is lost, but do not ask for more. I do not want to escalate this further, so leave to the Isles and do not return. You got what you're after. I hope it is worth it."_

"So... I think it's safe to say that this one wasn't for her girlfriend," Anna surmised. Even with the awkwardness of the broken translation, she could almost feel the underlying fear in the words that her sister had written. She took another glance at the arrowhead sitting on the corner of the desk, which apparently wasn't an arrowhead. It was a key of some kind—the same key that had been mentioned in the previous threatening note that she and Kristoff had come across at the school.

"But it was in their hiding spot," Kristoff pointed out. "So maybe her girlfriend is the one threatening her."

"Yeah, but what's this key even from?" Anna asked, picking up. "I don't recognize it. These aren't Nordic symbols; they look Celtic."

"Okay... then maybe the whole thing is a plot by Kai," Kristoff tried.

"Kai is practically family, Kristoff; I _really_ doubt it's Kai."

Kristoff sighed. "Well, I'm sorry, babe, but there's only one other explanation. Elsa mentioned the _Isles_ in this note. And unless you know another country with _Isles_ in its name..."

"Hans... it has to be Hans," Anna concluded, her blood running cold at the very mention of his name—but Kristoff was fuming.

"Oh, son of a _bitch_."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"So, she keeps all the recent ones in here," Anna was saying, flipping through the pages in Elsa's filing cabinet.

Night had fallen, and the castle hallways were almost entirely deserted. Anna and Kristoff seemed to be the only ones still awake, and they were making quick work of investigating Elsa's current predicament. The realization that Hans was behind the recent threats to the Queen was unsettling, to say the least. Over the past year, Anna had done her best to push the Prince's memory further and further to the back of her mind, bit by bit, but now—once again—he was right at the forefront of her consciousness. He had never caused anything but trouble for her and her sister. This time, Anna was determined to put a stop to it, once and for all.

"She files _all_ her mail away?" Kristoff asked, helping Anna search through the pages, "What are we looking for?"

"We're looking for the letter she got at dinner the other night," Anna explained.

"The one we with the familiar seal?"

"Yes. It's the Southern Isles' seal. That's why she looked so freaked out; I think it was the first of the threats."

Kristoff reached into his pocket and pulled out the arrowhead-shaped key. "Where do you think Elsa got this at? And why would Hans want it?"

"I don't _know,_ Kristoff; that's what I'm trying to find out," Anna said with an exasperated sigh. Elsa sure got an awful lot of mail from an awful lot of places. As she flipped through the pages, she had yet to come across any from Hans—but she wasn't giving up; not yet.

"How do you think Hans found out?"

"Hmm?" Anna looked up. "Found out what?"

"That Elsa's courting a woman," said Kristoff, "Or, uh, _passing notes with_ a woman."

Anna frowned. "What makes you think he knows?"

Kristoff scoffed. Sometimes his fiance was really smart—but sometimes, she failed to see what was right in front of her. "Babe, he used _their_ hiding spot as the place for the key to be left. It's a classic extortion conspiracy. He threatened to expose her secret if she didn't leave this there for him."

"But what's it _for_?" Anna questioned, asking herself just as much as she was asking him.

"I don't know; did you find the letter?"

"No. She must've hidden it," Anna grumbled. "Maybe we should research the key instead. If we can find out what it is, maybe we'll figure out why Hans is threatening Elsa for it."

" _Or_ we could just mind our own business..."

Anna grabbed his arm and dragged him to the door with intentions of heading back up to the library for more information. "Oh, Kristoff; you're so silly sometimes. What's the fun in that?"

Kristoff just groaned.

* * *

 _"In the dark ages, during the war between the Celts and the Vikings, an ancient chest containing a secret treasure was buried by the Norse somewhere in the Scandes. After winning the war, the Celts stole the key for the chest, and desperate to keep the treasure hidden, the leader of the Vikings took the map and disappeared into the mountains. Those who knew the chest's location were burned at the stake for withholding information, and the true hiding place was never revealed. The map's whereabouts are a mystery to this day, and the the treasure's unknown contents are lost to history. The key now remains in the possession of Celtic royalty..."_ Anna read on, narrating the passage aloud for Kristoff as he leaned over her shoulder to follow along.

"So, this is the key for the Vikings' lost treasure chest," Kristoff realized, comparing the item in his hand to the sketch on the page. They were nearly identical, save for the Celtic symbols that seemed to have been recently carved into their own copy.

"But how did Elsa get it?" Anna asked in confusion, "This book says some royal family in Ireland is supposed to have it."

"Who cares? It's useless," said Kristoff, tossing the key to land on the edge of the desk. "Just an old key for some lost treasure. Without a map, it's worthless."

Despite the fact that his observation made perfect sense, Anna was still wary of the whole thing. If it really _was_ so worthless, Hans would have no reason to be threatening Elsa for it. Then again, Anna knew she could never really understand his motives. The Prince was criminally insane, and did not deserve to be feared. Elsa had capitulated to his demands, and he'd gotten what he was after. Now it was time to let the whole thing die down—before anything _worse_ happened.

"Anna, you have no reason to be worrying, okay?" Kristoff insisted, reading the expression on her face. "Elsa will be fine. We should probably go put the key back in the Great Hall before Hans comes looking for it, but after that, there's no problem."

"Except that the Prince of the Southern Isles is threatening my sister," Anna pointed out, "And Elsa is keeping secrets from me— _again._ This is all sounding very familiar, don't you think?"

"You're being paranoid. We'll be okay," said Kristoff, taking her hand. He flashed her a reassuring smile, and the Princess' fears all but melted away.

"Promise you'll protect us, Kristoff," Anna murmured as she was pulled into his embrace.

Kristoff hummed his agreement, and Anna didn't need much more confirmation than that. In his arms, she knew she was safe. In this moment, at least, all of her doubts felt very far away.

* * *

 _Creeeaak._

Without warning, the library door swung open. Cursing under her breath, Anna snatched up the key that Kristoff had tossed onto the desk. Meanwhile, Kristoff knocked over a nearby pile of books to effectively obscure the page of the one that they had been looking at. Only moments after their tracks had been covered, their uninvited visitor came strolling into view.

"Oh. Hello," Elsa greeted, stopping short. She hadn't expected to find Anna and Kristoff here so late, and seemed caught off guard by how flustered they both looked, hunched over the desk in the far corner of the room. "I'm not interrupting something, am I?"

"No!" Anna exclaimed.

"Yes," Kristoff blurted, because, well, she _was._

Anna shot her fiance a look, and then turned back to Elsa and forced a sheepish smile, "I mean... _yes._ Yes, you are, actually," she corrected herself, affectionately (and dramatically) throwing herself into Kristoff's arms. "So, seriously, Elsa— _do you mind_?"

It was all a bit overdone. Kristoff played along, fighting his urge to roll his eyes. As long as it directed Elsa's attention away from their investigative prying, he wouldn't complain. Naturally, Anna had expected some sort of a reproof for her actions; something to distract the focus away from what they were _actually_ working on, but got quite the opposite. In fact, Elsa just lowered her eyes, blushing, and made her way to the corner of the room to search a bookshelf. "I'm sorry. Just give me a moment, and I'll go," she said quietly.

Well, that was odd. Kristoff shared a concerned look with Anna, who quickly withdrew from his embrace. "Elsa?" Anna asked, peering over at her, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," said Elsa, with her back turned.

But she didn't sound fine. Surely that hadn't been _their_ fault, right? It wasn't until Anna noticed the shelf that Elsa was looking at that she figured it out. There was only one gap in the books of that particular row: _Lost Treasures of Centuries Past._ It just so happened to be the _one_ book that Anna and Kristoff had been putting to use, and Elsa looked both puzzled and upset to have found it missing.

"What are you looking for?" Anna let herself ask, as if there were any hope of honesty from her sister.

"Nothing," Elsa turned away from the shelf, apparently giving up. As she made her way briskly back to the doors, Anna could've sworn she saw her wiping away tears. "Goodnight."

"Well, that was horrible," Anna commented once Elsa was out of sight, "Good going, Kristoff. You made her cry."

Kristoff put his hands up in protest. "You're the one that stole that book! Besides; this whole thing was your idea in the first place," he reminded her. "I'm the one that told you to just talk to her about it like a normal human being."

"Oh, like _you'd_ know anything about being a normal human being," Anna rolled her eyes. "And besides, even if I did, what would I say? _Hey, Sis, I found out you like girls!_ Yeah, I'm sure that'd go over real well, babe."

"Well, why not?" Kristoff scoffed, finally fed up. He'd put up with his fiance's little scheme for far too long. Making the Ice Queen of Arendelle cry was where he drew the line. "You don't have to tell her we found out. Just ask her about it. Let her tell you."

"How could I possibly ask about something like that?"

"I don't know, just... be relatable!" Kristoff huffed. "Make her feel like you're comfortable with the whole idea, and maybe she'll confess."

Anna had to admit that the idea seemed a whole lot more rational than going behind Elsa's back. "It's just, I don't know how to be relatable when I can't relate," she sighed. "When I try to talk to her about you, she gets all weird and uncomfortable."

"Of course she does, babe. She's not that way inclined. That's why you need to talk to her about someone else," said Kristoff, "About _women,_ I mean. Make her want to tell you. But be subtle, so she doesn't suspect us."

Somehow, Anna just knew that it would be a lot harder than it sounded. The more she thought it through, the more she realized how difficult it would be. But she knew she had to do it. Her previous plan had come to a standstill, and there were no options left. "Fine," she finally agreed, "I'll try. Burn our translations and take Elsa's note and the key back to the Great Hall for Hans to find, would you? I'll come find you when we're done talking."

And so, with great hesitance, Anna took off for the royal bedchambers.

* * *

 _Knock knock... Knock knock knock._

"Who is it?"

Anna sighed. She had already stalled herself for nearly half an hour, pacing in the hallway outside the doors, trying to figure out what to say. She still wasn't sure, but it was getting late, and she was running out of time. "Elsa? It's me; can I come in?"

A long moment of silence passed, and then finally Elsa said, "Come in, Anna."

Turning the handle cautiously as if she were afraid of what she might see, Anna slowly swung the door open and stepped into Elsa's bedroom. She was immediately made aware of the reason for her sister's hesitance: Elsa was bathing. A wooden tub had been brought in, and Anna barely contained a wince when she saw the ice cubes bobbing on the surface of the water that covered the Queen all the way to her bare shoulders. "I still think _heated_ water would be a bit more comfortable," Anna noted lightly.

This was a rather common occurrence. Elsa often enjoyed ice baths on the late nights after especially stressful days, claiming that it helped her to unwind. Tonight, she also held a half-full glass of wine in her hand, and a closed book sat on the desk next to her, but she looked anything but relaxed. In fact, as Anna got closer, she noted that she seemed to have been crying very recently. Her eyes were red around the rims.

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have come," Anna said, feeling even worse, "Maybe I'll just go."

"No, it's okay," Elsa sniffled, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, "What did you need?"

Anna tried not to react when she saw her sister take another small sip of her drink. It wasn't at all uncommon for Elsa to enjoy a glass of wine at suppertime—but so late at night, and in her bedroom, by herself? Something was clearly wrong here. Unfortunately, Anna knew exactly what that _something_ was. "I just wanted to come see you," she replied quietly. "You seemed upset earlier. I thought you might want to talk."

"Upset?" Elsa forced a humorless laugh, "No. I'm not upset, Anna. I'm... wound up. I'm frustrated—I'm... I'm confused, all right? I'm just..."

During her ramble, Anna thought she heard Elsa mumble something that sounded an awful lot like _lonely._ For the first time since she'd entered the room, she noticed the wine bottle sitting on the table. The half-empty wine bottle. "Okay, _and_ you're drunk," she noted lightly. "Cool. That's cool. So, like I said, I'm just gonna go..."

"Wait," Elsa called out as Anna began to back away, "You don't have to go. I'm not drunk."

Anna hesitated, noting that—ironically—Elsa's words sounded a bit slurred. "Well, do you want me to stay?" she asked, stopping her retreat towards the doors.

"Maybe," said Elsa, hopefully. "Would you? You said you wanted to talk."

This really wasn't what Anna had had in mind, but might just work in her favor. Maybe Elsa would be inebriated enough to confess her secret without Anna even goading it out of her. At this point, it was worth a shot. "Okay," Anna conceded, walking back over and flopping into an armchair near the tub. "You said you're, um, _lonely,_ didn't you? That's why you're in here, drinking by yourself? 'Cause you're lonely?"

Elsa looked embarrassed. "Yes," she admitted, "Among other things."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Anna asked, concerned. "I would've been here for you, Elsa—you know that. Hiding yourself away only makes it worse."

"Well, to be candid, Anna, it's a different kind of lonely," Elsa confessed; her subsequent blushing elucidating the implication.

"Oh," Anna blinked, stunned into silence. _That_ hadn't taken any prying at all. Perhaps the wine was even more effective than she thought.

After a long, awkward moment of silence hanging in the air between them, Elsa sighed. "Can I ask you a something?"

"Of course you can," Anna agreed, relaxing a bit.

"Well, it's kind of a personal question, I mean," Elsa shyly clarified, "Just, sister to sister."

"Even better," said Anna, managing a smile, "I'm an open book. Ask away, Sis."

Elsa nodded, gathering her thoughts. "Um... _hmm._ I, um... I was just..."

Anna impatiently slumped back in her chair. "Before the sun comes up, would be good."

Elsa's blush deepened. "All right, fine. I was just wondering, the things you feel for Kristoff..." she cleared her throat quietly, " _Ahem—_ how exactly do you distinguish between your own impure feelings, and your actual, moral interest in him? I mean, the honorable things you _should_ feel when you think of him, and the obscene things you _shouldn't_ feel?"

 _Whoa, boy._ Personal was right. Now _Anna_ was the one blushing—Elsa had never actually willingly initiated a conversation like this with her before. "Well, honestly, the way I see it, they aren't always two distinctly different things," Anna said decidedly. "Like, it's more of a romantic attraction versus sexual attraction sort of thing. They tend to go hand in hand."

"But, I meant even way back when you first started courting," Elsa clarified, "Did he make you feel _things_? Or isn't all of that supposed to come later on?"

"No, it started pretty early, I think," Anna replied. "Nothing actually happened right away, but the whole _lust_ thing; it's physical, I think. I knew I really liked his personality, but his looks were also a plus, so I'm pretty sure it's natural."

"It's not _wrong,_ though? To feel that way, even in chastity?"

"Well, no, because you can't exactly control things like that. If you feel a certain way about someone, it doesn't matter what vows you've taken, or what society has to say about it," Anna tried to explain, "All you can do is obey your _own_ ethicality; not anyone else's."

"But if society disagrees..."

"Society's not _you._ Only _you_ decide what's best for you. Like with Kristoff," Anna reasoned, "None of the Arendelle's citizens were happy about me seeing a lowborn man instead of a prince. But once they all realized how happy he makes me, they accepted him, too."

"But is it really always so black and white?" Elsa questioned, "Like, isn't there so much more that needs to be rationalized and established for you to know if how you feel is how you're _supposed_ to feel?"

"No, silly, that's why they're called feelings," Anna giggled. "You don't rationalize them. You can't explain _love._ It doesn't work like that. You feel with your heart, not with your head."

Elsa still looked perplexed. "But what if your head tells you that your feelings are wrong?"

"Well, what does your heart want?"

"To be happy, I suppose."

"Well, there you go," Anna said simply, "That's love. So tell your head to take a hike and just let yourself _feel_."

And for the first time that night, Elsa smiled. It was a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Okay. Thank you, Anna," she said, "I'll keep that in mind."

"No problem, Sis," Anna sang cheerfully, standing up from her chair and heading for the door, "Keep your chin up, okay? Goodnight!"

And it wasn't until she was out in the hallway, the doors shut behind her that Anna realized what her accidental— albeit effective — advice, had just encouraged. _Oh, hell._


End file.
